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THE  VEGETABLE  MRDEK 


A  COMPLETE  GUIDE 


TO  THE 


CULTIVATION  OF  VEGETABLES; 


CONTAINING 


THOBOUGH    INSTBUCTIONS    FOB    SOWING,   PLANTING,    AND    CULTIVATING    ALL 

KINDS    OF    VEGETABLES  ;     WITH    PLAIN   DIRECTIONS    FOB    PBEPAHLNG, 

MANUBING    AND   TILLING    THE    SOIL   TO    SUIT    EACH    PLANT  ; 

INCLUDING,    ALSO,    A    SUSIilABT    OF   THE    WOBK    TO 

BE  DONE  IN  A  VEGETABLE  GABDEN  DUBINO 

EACH     MONTH     OF     THE    YEAB. 


BY  JAM:ES 


NEW    YORK: 
DICK    &    FITZGERALD,    PUBLISHERS, 

No.    18   ANN   STREET. 


^ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1877,  by 

DICK  &  PITZGESALD, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington  D.  G 


PBEFACE. 


Fifty  years'  experience  and  observation  in  horticultural  matters 
has  made  us  aware  that  there  is  a  very  numerous  class  of  persons 
throughout  the  country  that  need  and  desire  instruction  in  garden- 
ing. These  persons  are  farmers  and  the  business  men  residing  in 
the  neighborhood  of  our  cities,  who  have  plots  of  ground  varying 
in  extent  from  one-quarter  of  an  acre  to  two  or  more  acres — peo- 
ple who  either  do  not  have  land  enough  to  employ,  or  do  not  find 
it  convenient  to  keep  a  professional  gardener,  but  rely  upon  the 
occasional  services  of  a  laborer  or  a  groom  to  cultivate  their  grounds. 
These  men  know  but  little  of  garden  practice,  and  hence  their  em- 
ployers have  to  devote  then-  garden  plots  to  the  growth  of  the  more 
common  and  most  easily  cultivated  vegetables,  and  this  is  not 
often  done  in  the  best  manner. 

It  is  to  such  employers  that  we  dedicate  this  book,  so  that  they 
may  be  able  to  direct  and  instruct  those  whom  they  employ,  and 
provide  them  with  that  knowledge  and  intelligence  in  which  they 
are  lacking. 

It  were  foolishness  to  attempt  to  prove  that  a  vegetable  garden 
is  a  necessity,  or  that  a  large  variety  of  vegetables  for  the  table 
is  a  luxury  and  a  source  of  great  gustatory  pleasure,  for  that  is 
acknowledged  by  every  one.  Yet  we  have  been  much  struck  when 
visiting  or  traveling  in  the  country,  when  noting  the  very  limited 
supply  and  the  small  number  of  varieties  grown  by  our  country 
friends,  especially  farmers.  Even  when  there  was  a  good  supply, 
the  varieties  were  of  such  inferior  quality  that  half  the  pleasure  of 
the  table  was  done  away  with.  Lettuces  that  were  as  tough  as  a 
drumhead,  tomatoes  as  empty  and  tough  as  an  India-rubber  ball, 
gnarly  cucumbers,  and  peas  that  reminded  one  of  sawdust  or  dry 
meal,  are  not  very  appetizing  adjuncts  to  a  dinner. 

This  book  is  not  intended  for  the  professional  gardener,  yet  there 
may  be  in  it  some  hints  or  reminders  that  may  be  of  sendee  to  him, 
for  progress  is  made  in  gardening  as  in  any  other  art,  and  there  is 

466923 


4  PREFACE. 

much  to  unlearn  as  well  as  to  learn,    We  find  ourselves  contin- 
ually being  taught  some  new  or  improved  practice  in  the  art. 

We  have  endeavored  to  make  the  book  as  comprehensive  and 
concise  as  possible,  so  that  it  might  be  kept  within  such  a  limit  of 
cost  as  would  enable  the  poorest  laborer  to  purchase  it — intending 
it  for  the  million,  and  not  for  the  professional  few. 

The  times  given  for  sowing  and  planting  are  those  suitable  for 
the  latitude  of  New  York  city ;  due  allowance  must  therefore  be 
made  for  places  north  or  south  of  that  latitude.  As  a  general  rule, 
a  degree  southward  or  northward,  as  the  case  may  be,  is  equivalent 
to  five  or  seven  days  earlier  or  later.  Climates  are  sometimes  local, 
being  influenced  by  various  circumstances,  such  as  mountains,  for- 
ests, lakes  or  the  sea ;  so  that  the  isothermal  lines  of  a  country  never 
run  exactly  on  the  lines  of  latitude.  In  such  cases  allowances 
must  be  made  for  such  local  variations. 

The  seedsmen's  catalogues  contain  the  names  of  a  multitude  of 
varieties,  many  of  which  are  not  of  much  value  as  compared  with 
others.  They  have  to  keep  them  on  hand  because  there  are  those 
who,  having  cultivated  them  for  many  years,  are  wedded  to  them, 
and  are  slow  to  acknowledge  that  improvements  can  be  made ;  or 
their  particular  trade,  as  in  that  of  market  gardeners,  requires  size 
or  extra  earliness,  without  much  reference  to  their  quality.  The 
selections  we  have  given  are  of  such  varieties  as  combine  the  great- 
est number  of  good  qualities  without  reference  to  size ;  for  this,  of 
itself,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  is  but  of  secondary  importance,  and 
very  often  indicates  coarseness  and  lack  of  flavor. 

"We  have  not  given  any  special  directions  for  forcing  or  forward- 
ing vegetables  in  frames,  as  this  requires  an  amount  of  skill,  labor 
and  attention  that  few  except  professional  gardeners  are  possessed 
of,  or  are  capable  of  bestowing. 

If  we  find  that  this  book  is  of  service  to  those  for  whom  it  is  in- 
tended, we  shall,  at  short  intervals,  issue  three  other  garden  hand- 
books—the "  Flower  Garden/'  the  "Fruit  Garden,"  and  the  "  Green- 
house and  "Window  Garden." 

JAMES  HOGG. 

New  York,  March  1st,  1877, 


CONTENTS. 


PAOB. 

TICE  VEGETABLE  GARDEN 7 

Soils 7 

Situation  ami  Exposure 9 

Laying  Out 10 

Implements  and  Their  Use 11 

Preparation  of  the  Soil l? 

Drainage —  1 

Manures 22 

Rotation  of  Crops 31 

Transplanting ••  ••  33 

Cold  Frames  and  Hot-Beds 35 

Seeds  and  Seed  Sowing 40 

Protecting  Vegetables 45 

Preservation  of  Vegetables 47 

Seed  Raising 48 

Insects  and  Insecticides 60 

CULTIVATION  OF  VEGETABLES 53 

Artichoke 53 

Asparagus 55 

English  Broad  Beans 58 

Bush  Beans 60 

Pole  Beans 61 

Beet 62 

Borecole  or  Kale 64 

Broccoli 64 

Brussels  Sprouts 66 

Cabbage 67 

Cardoon 71 

CaiTot .  72 

Cauliflower 73 

Celery .  75 

Celeriao 80 

Chervil 81 

Chiccory 81 

Chives 82 

Colewort 83 

Corn 83 

Cress 84 

Cucumber 84 

Dandelion 86 

EgpPlant .  87 


6  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Endive 88 

Fetticus 89 

Garlic 90 

Garden  Patience 90 

Horse-Radish 91 

Jerusalem  Artichoke 92 

Kohl-Rabi 93 

Leek 93 

Lettuce 94 

Martynia 97 

Melons 97 

Mushrooms 98 

Mustard 100 

Nasturtium 100 

New  Zealand  Spinach 101 

Okra 101 

Onion : 102 

Orache  or  French  Spinach 105 

Parsley 105 

Parsnip ." 107 

Peas 108 

Peppers  or  Capsicums Ill 

Phytolacca 112 

Potato 113 

Pumpkin 115 

Radish 115 

Rhubarb 117 

Rocambole 119 

Ruta-Bagaor  Swedish  Turnip 119 

Salsify  or  Oyster  Plant 120 

Scolymus 121 

Scorzonera 121 

Sea-Kale 122 

Shallot 123 

Sorrel 124 

Skirret 124 

Spinach 125 

Squash •' 126 

Sweet  Potato 126 

Swiss  Chard 127 

Tarragon 128 

Tomato 128 

Turnip 130 

Water-Cress 130 

Water-Melon 131 

Pot  Herbs 131 

MONTHLY  REMINDERS....: 133 


THE  VEGETABLE  GARDEN, 


SOILS. 

The  success  of  a  kitchen  garden  largely  depends  upon 
the  character  of  the  soil  and  the  exposure.  Of  course  in 
the  majority  of  cases  circumstances  control  the  selection, 
but  in  a  multitude  of  cases  much  more  suitable  selections 
can  be  made  than  are  made.  Especially  is  this  the  case 
on  the  part  of  persons,  who,  leaving  the  cities,  select  sub- 
urban or  rural  residences.  Beautiful  views,  commanding 
sites,  and  numerous  other  considerations  too  often  deter- 
mine the  problem  in  selecting  a  rural  home,  whilst  the 
adaptability  of  the  site  for  gardening  purposes  is  rarely,  if 
ever,  considered ;  although  upon  this  point  much  of  the 
enjoyment  and  comfort  of  a  rural  home  depends,  as  well 
as  the  cost  of  keeping  it  up. 

Sandy  soils,  especially  those  having  a  loose,  gravelly 
subsoil,  are  the  least  retentive  of  moisture,  and  accord- 
ingly seriously  sufler  from  drought ;  but  there  are  cases  in 
which  sites  having  a  deep  sandy  soil,  and  surrounded  by 
higher  land,  are  constantly  moist,  as  the  water  from  the 
higher  lands  drains  or  percolates  through  the  substratum 
of  the  sand,  and  the  action  of  the  sun,  in  causing  evapora- 
tion from  the  surface,  draws  up  the  moisture  from  below, 
bringing  it  in  contact  with  the  roots  of  the  crops,  thereby 


keeping  them  constantly  moist,  and  preventing  them  from 
suffering  in  a  dry  time,  and  so  producing  excellent  crops 
of  vegetables.  Sandy  soils  are  well  adapted  for  raising 
early  vegetables,  but  are  not  suited  for  many  midsummer 
crops. 

The  more  clayey  a  soil  is,  the  longer  it  will  retain  water 
and  the  longer  it  will  be  in  becoming  fit  to  work  in  the 
spring ;  hence  such  soils  are  not  adapted  for  raising  early 
crops,  but  will  produce  late  crops,  such  as  celery  and  late 
cabbage.  There  is,  however,  a  great  difference  even  in 
heavy  clay  soils.  In  some  the  texture  or  grain  is  coarse, 
and  hi  others  it  is  very  fine.  The  finer  the  particles  of 
which  the  clay  is  composed,  the  more  tenacious  of  water  it 
will  be,  and  the  longer  in  drying  or  fitness  for  working, 
and  when  dry  it  will  be  liable  to  bake  or  harden  under  the 
sun's  heat,  and  so  involve  great  labor  in  cultivating  it. 

The  most  suitable  soil  for  gardening  purposes  is  a  deep, 
sandy  loam,  with  a  somewhat  gravelly  subsoil.  Such  a 
soil  is  generally  equably  moist,  will  hold  moisture  longer 
without  becoming  hard  when  dry,  and  speedily  gets  into 
working  order. 

Air,  heat  and  moisture  at  the  roots,  as  well  as  at  the 
tops,  are  all  necessary  to  plant-growth;  hence,  the  easier  a 
soil  can  be  pulverized  to  a  considerable  depth,  the  better 
it  is  adapted  for  cultivation.  This  is  of  such  great  import- 
ance, that  when  a  choice  can  be  had,  always  select  for  a 
garden  site  one  with  a  good  friable  subsoil,  such  as  a 
sandy  or  gravelly  clay,  through  which  the  surface  water 
will  freely  percolate.  In  such  cases  even  a  poor  surface 
soil  can  be  made  to  produce  good  crops,  and  a  large  ex- 
penditure of  money  can  be  saved  in  the  item  of  drainage. 
Always  avoid  spongy  or  water-lodged  land,  especially  if  it 
is  clayey,  as  such  land  requires  a  large  expenditure  of 


SITUATION    AND    EXPOSURE.  9 

money  in  drainage  operations,  and  even  then  is  generally 
cold  and  unfitted  for  early  crops. 

Thus  poor  soils  of  any  kind,  unless  with  a  good  subsoil, 
cannot  be  made  to  bear  a  large  variety  of  crops,  no  matter 
what  amount  of  manure  is  applied.  They  should  be 
devoted  to  fibrous-rooted  crops,  such  as  lettuce,  spinach, 
onions,  peas,  etc.;  for  tap-rooted  crops,  like  beets,  parsnips 
and  carrots,  will  not  succeed  in  them. 

A  light  or  sandy  soil  will  be  benefited  if  worked  when 
moist,  as  it  makes  it  more  compact ;  on  the  contrary  a  clay 
soil  should  be  worked  when  dry,  otherwise  it  becomes 
pasty,  and  if  hot,  dry  weather  ensues,  it  hardens  or  bakes, 
thus  preventing  the  germination  of  seeds,  and  checks  the 
growth  of  plants  by  becoming  almost  impervious  to  the 
action  of  the  air,  heat  and  moisture. 


SITUATION  AND  EXPOSURE. 

The  kitchen  garden  should  always  be  sheltered  from 
northerly  or  westerly  winds.  Naturally,  if  possible,  by 
woods  or  belts  of  evergreens,  and  when  these  cannot  be 
had,  then  by  close  fences  on  the  northern  and  westerly 
boundaries,  to  such  an  extent,  at  least,  as  to  furnish 
shelter  for  frames  and  borders  for  raising  a  sufficiency  of 
early  vegetables,  according  to  the  size  or  demands  of  the 
family.  When  sheltered  by  woods  or  belts  of  trees,  deep 
trenches  should  be  dug  between  the  trees  and  the  garden, 
to  prevent  the  roots  of  the  former  from  penetrating  into 
the  soil  of  the  latter,  for  it  is  astonishing  to  what  a  great 
distance  they  will  send  their  roots  to  obtain  the  benefits  of 
the  manure  applied  to  the  garden,  and  so  rob  the  crops  of 
their  proper  sustenance, 


10  LAYING     OUT. 

The  best  exposure  is  one  sloping  to  the  south  or  south- 
east ;  next,  one  to  the  south-west.  The  exposures  to  the 
northerly  points  of  the  compass  are  proportionally  bad  as 
they  approach  the  north  point,  which  is  almost  useless  for 
general  gardening  purposes. 

The  kitchen  garden  should  be  as  near  the  dwelling  as 
possible,  when  not  inconsistent  with  the  laying  out  of  the 
grounds,  should  they  be  of  any  extent;  and  even  then 
provision  can  often  be  made  for  its  proximity  to  the  house 
by  masking  it  with  ordinary  trees  and  shrubs.  Proximity  to 
the  house  is  desirable  for  convenience'  sake,  for  preventing 
depredations,  and  for  affording  an  oversight  of  the  work- 
men, when  a  regular  gardener  is  not  kept.  It  is  also  well  to 
have  it  as  near  to  the  stables  as  possible,  provided  poultry 
are  not  kept  there,  unless  in  enclosed  runs,  as  they  are 
a  great  annoyance  and  source  of  damage  to  a  garden. 
Where  they  can  be  had,  a  pond,  a  stream  of  water,  or  a 
well  are  desirable  accessories  to  a  kitchen  garden,  as  they 
frequently  save  a  large  amount  of  labor  in  carrying  water 
from  a  distance. 


LAYING  OUT. 

The  simplest  and  best  form  for  a  kitchen  garden,  is  a 
parallelogram,  with  a  wide  walk  through  the  centre.  In 
large  gardens  this  should  be  seven  or  eight  feet  wide,  to 
admit  the  passage  of  a  cart  or  wagon.  In  smaller  gar- 
dens it  should  be  at  least  five  feet  wide,  in  order  to 
allow  of  the  free  passage  of  a  wheelbarrow.  Eight  and 
left  from  this  centre  walk  the  beds  for  the  different  sorts 
of  vegetables  may  be  laid  out.  A  border  from  four  to 
six  feet  wide  should  be  laid  out  next  to  the  boundaries,  for 
the  growing  of  the  smaller  vegetables— borders  facing  to 


IMPLEMENTS  AND  HOW  TO  USE  THEM.          11 

the  south  or  south-east  being  very  desirable  for  growing 
early  vegetables,  and  those  with  a  northerly  aspect  for 
such  plants  as  require  shade.  Between  these  side  borders 
and  the  main  borders  there  should  be  a  walk  three  or  four 
feet  wide,  for  the  sake  of  convenience. 

Whdfe  there  is  an  abundance  of  land,  it  is  better  to  en- 
large the  size  of  the  garden  in  order  to  work  it  with  the 
plow,  to  do  which  is  much  less  expensive  than  to  cultivate 
it  with  the  spade,  and  it  can  be  far  more  rapidly  done ;  an 
object  of  great  importance  to  our  farming  community, 
whose  agricultural  operations  overdrive  them  in  the 
spring-time,  and  so  unfortunately  allow  them  but  little 
time  to  devote  to  horticultural  work. 

On  no  account  should  currant,  gooseberry,  raspberry  or 
other  bushes,  or  any  fruit  trees,  be  planted  in  the  kitchen 
garden,  for  they  are  a  continual  annoyance  and  nuisance, 
always  in  the  way,  always  robbing  the  adjoining  vegeta- 
bles of  their  proper  nutriment,  shading  them,  and  being 
themselves  continually  injured  by  the  spading  and  other 
garden  operations  necessary  to  growing  vegetables.  Al- 
ways provide  a  fruit  garden  for  them,  and  grow  them  in 
separate  quarters,  where  each  sort  can  receive  its  own 
special  cultivation. 


IMPLEMENTS  AND  HOW  TO  USE  THEM. 

All  garden  tools  should  be  made  of  the  best  materials, 
and  be  as  light  as  possible,  consistent  with  strength.  There 
is  no  economy  in  using  a  spade  weighing  twelve  pounds, 
when  one  weighing  eight  pounds  will  do  the  work,  and  be 
equally  strong.  If  in  spading  a  piece  of  ground  we  turn 
over  two  thousand  spadesful  of  earth,  and  in  doing  so  use 
a  wrought  iron,  steel-edged  spade,  weighing  one  pound 


12  IMPLEMENTS  AND  HOW  TO  USE  THEM. 

more  than  a  cast  steel  one,  we  have  simply  wasted  our 
strength  in  lifting  one  ton  of  iron  which  has  not  been  of 
the  least  use  to  us,  and  so  with  every  other  tool.  If  we 
take  into  consideration  the  numerous  strokes  which  a  man 
hoeing  has  to  take  during  a  day's  work,  a  difference  of  one 
or  two  ounces  in  the  weight  of  a  hoe  becomes  quite  an  item 
in  the  useless  expenditure  of  strength.  Spades,  forks, 
hoes  and  rakes  should,  therefore,  always  be  made  of  the 
best  cast  steel. 

Spades  for  digging  purposes,  in  pulverizing  the  soil,  are 
now  but  seldom  used  among  the  better  class  of  gardeners, 
the  spading  fork  being  substituted  for  it.  This  fork  is 
about  the  size  and  shape  of  a  spade,  having  four  or  five 
flat  tines,  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch  wide.  Being  so 
much  lighter  than  a  spade,  and  exposing  so  much  less  sur- 
face to  the  friction  incident  to  pushing  it  into  the  soil,  it 
saves  a  large  amount  of  muscular  expenditure,  and  our  own 
experience  is  that  a  man  will  do  one-third  more  digging  in 
a  day  with  one  of  these  forks  than  with  the  lightest  made 
spade,  and  do  it  with  far  less  fatigue.  The  work  is  also 
better  done  than  with  the  spade,  especially  if  the  soil  is  in 
any  way  wet,  for  the  spade  turns  it  over  in  heavy,  cheesy 
lumps,  whereas  the  fork,  in  lifting  it,  breaks  it  up  and  pul- 
verizes it  more  readily. 

This  kind  of  fork  cannot  be  readily  used  as  a  manure 
fork,  on  account  of  the  width  of  the  tines,,  and  neither  can 
a  manure  fork  be  used  for  spading  purposes,  on  account  of 
its  curvature  and  the  narrowness  of  the  tines — hence  it  is 
necessary  to  provide  a  manure  fork  for  the  handling  of  the 
manure  used. 

The  operation  of  digging  is  apparently  a  very  simple 
one,  yet  very  few  of  our  laboring  men  really  understand 
it  They  will  take  the  spade*  and  run  it  into  the  ground  in 


IMPLEMENTS  AND  HOW  TO   USE  THEM.  13 

such  a  way  as  to  take  up  a  slice  two  or  three  inches  thick, 
turn  it  over,  break  it  down  and  level  it,  and  so  leave  the  soil 
underneath  quite  untouched,  hard  and  nearly  impenetrable 
to  the  roots  of  the  crop  sown  or  planted  on  the  surface.  The 
spade  or  fork  should  be  entered  into  the  ground  hi  nearly  a 
perpendicular  direction  to  its  full  depth,  taking  a  breadth 
or  spit  of  soil  not  more  than  four  inches  thick,  and  then  lift- 
tag  and  turning  it  over,  breaking  and  leveling  it  down— or, 
in  other  words,  pulverizing  it  to  as  great  a  depth  and  as 
finely  as  possible. 

Of  hoes  there  are  many  patterns,  used  for  different  pur- 
poses; the  well-known  corn  hoe  is  useful  for  earthing  up 
plants  and  similar  purposes,  but  they  are  usually  too  large 
and  clumsy  for  general  garden  use.  For  weeding  purposes 
we  prefer  a  six  inch  English  draw  hoe,  about  four  inches 
wide.  These  are  made  of  saw-blade  steel,  riveted  to  a 
wrought  iron  back, 
having  an  eye  into 
which  the  handle  is 
set.  They  are  very4* 
light  and  can  easily 
be  kept  sharp.  Some  prefer  push  hoes,  as  then  they  do 
not  have  to  walk  over  the  ground  they  have  hoed. 


For  stirring  the  soil  the  bayonet  hoe  is  very  useful,  es- 
pecially for  seed  beds  and  among  very  young  plants.    To 


14          IMPLEMENTS  AND  HOW  TO  USE  THEM. 

use  between  the  rows  of  the  regular  crops  the  prong  hoe 
is  an  excellent  implement;  it  is  al- 
so useful  in  turning  over  manure, 
:  digging  potatoes,  and  for  a  variety 
of  purposes.  Another  useful  tool 
for  weeding  in  seed-beds,  or  to  as- 
sist in  hand  weeding,  is  a  weed- 
ing hook  of  the  following  pattern, 
known  as  the  Excelsior  Weeding 
Hook. 

Iron  rakes  have  almost  gone  out 
of  use  in  this  country,  having  been 
largely  superseded  by  cast  steel  ( 
rakes,  which  are  much  lighter  and' 
do  better  work.  Two  or  three  sizes  are  necessary  in  a 
garden  of  any  size,  to  enable  the  operation  of  raking  to 
be  done  in  the  various  widths  of  rows  at  which  the  crops 
are  planted.  One  each  of  six,  ten  and  fourteen  teeth  will 
be  convenient  sizes. 

To  rake  off  weeds  and  rubbish  no  directions  are  neces- 
sary, but  to  rake  a  bed  or  border  level  requires  some  skill 
or  sleight  of  hand.  To  pulverize  the  surface  soil  the  rake 
should  be  firmly  held  in  the  hands,  the  teeth  of  the  rake 
deeply  pressed  into  the  soil,  and  worked  backward  and 
forward  until  the  desired  pulverization  is  produced,  this 
depending  upon  the  size  and  character  of  the  seed  to  be 
sown.  In  dressing  off  a  bed,  the  rake  should  be  lightly  and 
more  uprightly  held  in  the  hands,  and  the  teeth  but 
slightly  pressed  into  the  soil,  and  any  small  stones  or  ha.rd 
clods  of  earth  drawn  off  by  a  sudden  jerk  of  the  rake  j  both 
cases  requiring  practice  and  care  to  avoid  getting  the  sur- 
face into  cat-hills. 
A  wooden  roller  is  a  very  useful  implement  in  a  garden. 


IMPLEMENTS  AND  HO  W  TO   USE  THEM.  15 

It  can  be  readily  and  cheaply  made  in  the  following  man- 
ner: Take  a  round  log  of  hard  wood  eight  to  ten  inches 
in  diameter  and  four  or  five  feet  long,  and  insert  in  the 
centre  of  each  end  a  gudgeon  projecting  a  couple  of  inches, 
to  take  the  eyes  of  an  iron  frame  and  cross  handle  by 
which  to  pull  it. 

A  marker  for  marking  out  seven  rows  at  once  is  made 
by  taking  a  piece  of  wood  about  three  inches  square  and 
six  feet  long,  and  boring  holes  in  it  on  one  side,  a  foot 
apart,  and  inserting  in  them  hard  wood  teeth— like  harrow 
teeth — six  inches  long;  and  on  the  other  side  inserting 
them  nine  inches  apart.  It  should  have  two  handles, 
so  as  to  enable  it  to  be  drawn  straight.  The  teeth  thus 


set  will  answer  for  nearly  all  row  spaces.  If  nine  inch  or 
twelve  inch  row  spaces  are  wanted,  it  marks  them  out  as  it 
is  made;  if  eighteen  inch  or  twenty-four  inch  spaces  are 
needed,  we  have  only  to  skip  every  other  line  marked.  In 
using  it,  stretch  a  garden  line  tightly  the  length  wanted, 
and  set  the  outer  tooth  against  it  and  draw  the  marker 
steadily  and  firmly  to  the  end;  on  returning,  set  the  end 
tooth  in  the  outer  row  as  a  guide,  and  so  on  until  the 
desired  number  of  rows  are  marked  off. 
A  dibber,  for  transplanting  small  plants,  is  readily  made 


16 


IMPLEMENTS  AND  HOW  TO  USE  THEM. 


by  taking  a  piece  of  crooked  hard  wood  about  ten  or  twelve 
inches  in  length,  and  sharpening  it  to  a  blunt  point.  In 
using  it,  after  pushing  it  into  the  ground  perpendicularly 
to  make  the  hole  for  the  plant,  the  plant  should  be  held  in 
the  hole  and  the  dibber  again  inserted  about  two  inches 
from  the  plant  in  an  angular  direction  and  then  drawn  in 
at  the  top  towards  the  plant ;  this  presses  the  soil  against 
the  roots  and  insures  it  being  firmly  set  in  the  soil,  for  if 
not  so  set  it  will  be  likely  to  wilt  and  die.  It  is  possible, 
and  is  often  done  by  careless  garden 
laborers,  to  press  the  soil  against  the 
collar  of  the  plant  and  leave  the  roota 
hanging  in  an  open  space  below,  and  if 
:Such  careless  men  press  the  soil  down 
with  their  feet,  they  do  it  so  heavily  as  to 
compress  the  soil,  if  it  is  any  way  wet, 
to  the  consistency  of  an  unbaked  brick. 
In  either  case,  as  we  have  often  experienced  to  our  loss, 
both  the  plants  and  the  labor  are  thrown  away. 

The  Sidney  Seed  Sower  is  a  very 
useful  implement  for  sowing  seeds, 
especially  in  windy  weather,  as  it  dis- 
tributes the  seeds  of  any  size  from 
peas  to  cabbage  seed  with  great  reg- 
ularity, either  broadcast  or  in  drills. 

To  these  may  be  added  a  wheel- 
barrow, a  water  pot,  a  garden  reel 
and  line,  a  garden  trowel,  and  an 
eight  or  ten  inch  coarse,  flat  file.  We  find  the  latter  an 
essential  tool  to  sharpen  hoes  and  spades,  for  if  they  are 
not  kept  well  sharpened  they  require  a  much  larger 
amount  of  labor  in  using  them.  An  oil  cask  is  also  useful 
for  mixing  liquid  manures  in. 


PREPARATION  OF  THE  SOIL  FOR  A  GARDEN.     17 

Where  the  garden  can  be  made  large  enough  to  be 
worked  by  the  plow,  the  ordinary  farm  implements,  such  as 
a  small  plow,  a  cultivator  and  a  harrow,  are  all  that  are 
necessary.  They  need  no  description  or  instructions  as  to 
their  use,  any  farm  laborer  being  able  to  use  them. 


PREPARATION  OF  THE  SOIL  FOR  A  GARDEN. 

If  the  site  selected  for  the  garden  is  a  piece  of  grass  land, 
it  should,  some  time  between  the  first  of  September  and  the 
end  of  November,  be  plowed,  and  if  manure  can  be  had,  it 
should  be  spread  on  the  land  previous  to  commencing  to 
plow.  The  plowing  should  be  shallow,  cutting  the  sod  in 
thin  slices  and  turning  it  over  flat,  and  then  harrowing  it 
either  with  the  back  of  the  harrow  or  with  one  having  very 
blunt  teeth,  so  as  to  fill  up  the  hollows  between  the  fur- 
rows, and  to  reduce  it  to  as  level  a  state  as  possible  with- 
out pulling  the  sod  out  of  its  overturned  position.  Early 
in  the  spring  it  should  be  crossed-piowed  and  subsoiled, 
by  either  using  a  subsoil  plow  or  running  an  ordinary  plow 
through  the  open  furrow  made  by  the  first  plow.  This 
renders  the  soil  friable  to  a  greater  depth  than  it  otherwise 
would  be.  But  care  must  be  had  not  to  bring  the  subsoil 
to  the  surface,  as  it  is  always  inferior  to  the  surface  soil, 
and  generally  takes  a  great  length  of  time,  and  a  large 
amount  of  cultivation  and  manuring,  to  make  it  fertile.  All 
that  is  required  is  to  break  it  up  and  get  it  into  such  a 
state  as  that  tap-rooted  plants  can  easily  penetrate  it. 

If,  instead  of  this  second  plowing,  it  is  worked  by  hand, 
then  a  trench  eighteen  inches  wide  and  one  spade  deep 
should  be  taken  out  and  laid  to  one  side;  the  subsoil  should 
then  be  spaded  with  a  spading  fork.  A  layer  of  manure 
•may  then  be  laid  upon  this  broken -up  subsoil,  and  the  top 


18  DRAINAGE. 

soil  from  the  adjoining  eighteen  inches  in  width  thrown 
over  it;  the  subsoil  under  it  then  broken  up  and  manured, 
the  top  soil  from  the  third  eighteen  inches  thrown  upon  it, 
and  so  on  seriatim,  trench  after  trench,  until  the  plot  is 
finished,  returning  the  top  soil  taken  from  the  first  trench 
to  the  last  one.  This  may  appear  to  involve  a  large  amount 
of  labor  and  a  great  deal  of  expense,  but  it  will  be  found 
to  well  repay  both  in  the  excellent  crops  produced. 

After  the  land  has  been  thus  prepared,  either  by  plowing 
or  by  hand  labor,  it  should  be  planted  with  potatoes,  corn 
or  late  cabbages  the  first  season,  as  it  can  scarcely  be 
brought  into  sufficiently  fine  tilth  for  ordinary  vegetables 
the  first  year. 

If  the  subsoil  should  be  heavy  and  retain  water,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  uuder-drain  it,  the  modes  of  doing  which 
we  will  now  explain.  _  _______ 

DRAINAGE. 

Drainage  is  necessary  whenever  the  subsoil  is  of  such  a 
character  as  to  hold  water.  It  is  not  only  low-laying  hind 
that  requires  it,  for  often  land  laying  on  the  lower  declivity 
of  a  hill-side  will  need  it,  because  the  water  draining  from 
the  upper  part  of  the  hill,  will,  when  the  subsoil  does  not 
admit  of  its  passing  off  freely,  ooze  out  on  the  surface  soil 
below,  and  make  it  cold  and  wet.  This  coldness  of  the 
soil  is  produced  by  the  evaporation  of  the  water  through 
the  action  of  the  sun's  rays  or  the  action  of  the  wind. 
This  has  been  the  subject  of  numerous  experiments,  the 
results  of  which  have  shown  that  the  evaporation  of  one 
pound  of  water  contained  in  one  hundred  pounds  of  earth, 
already  containing  its  proper  quantity  of  moisture,  lowered 
its  temperature  ten  degrees,  and  that  the  difference  in 
temperature  of  the  same  land,  drained  and  undrained, 


DRAINAGE.  19 

varied  from  six  to  ten  degrees,  equivalent  to  an  eleva- 
tion of  from  1900  to  2500  feet.  A  rainfall  of  two  inches 
on  an  acre  of  land  would  weigh  two  hundred  tons,  and 
require  over  twenty  tons  of  coal  to  evaporate  it;  at  least 
one-third  of  this  amount  of  heat  would  be  abstracted 
from  the  soil,  the  balance  being  furnished  from  the  atmos- 
phere. In  a  wet  time  an  acre  of  some  soils  will  contain 
one  thousand  spare  hogsheads  of  water,  which  the  sooner 
it  is  got  rid  of  the  better  for  the  soil  and  the  crops  growing 
in  it.  Such  an  amount  of  surplus  water  in  the  soil,  if 
taken  from  it  by  evaporation  alone,  would  take  over  a 
month,  as  the  rate  of  evaporation  per  acre  on  a  mid- 
summer's day  is  about  twenty-five  hogsheads.  So  that  the 
necessity  of  artificial  under-drainage  is  very  apparent  on 
soils  where  the  substratum  does  not  afford  a  natural 
outlet. 

The  advantages  of  under-draining  are  that  it  makes  the 
soil  warmer  by  decreasing  the  evaporation,  and  so  makes 
it  earlier;  it  prevents  injuries  from  drought  because  a 
larger  amount  of  moisture  is  contained  in  the  soil,  owing 
to  the  greater  depth  to  which  it  is  absorbed;  it  causes  the 
manure  in  the  soil  to  decompose  more  rapidly,  for  manure 
decomposes  very  slowly  when  saturated  with  water,  and 
the  water  draining  through  the  soil  takes  down  with  it  the 
various  gases  it  has  absorbed  from  the  atmosphere,  all  of 
which  are  elements  of  plant  food. 

It  often  requires  much  study  and  consideration  to  lay 
out  a  plan  of  drainage,  as  this  has  to  be  decided  according 
to  circumstances,  which  are  seldom  exactly  alike  in  any 
two  localities;  the  relative  position  of  the  site  in  regard  to 
higher  and  lower  levels  of  the  land  adjoining,  the  undula- 
tions of  the  land  composing  the  site,  the  means  of  getting 
rid  of  the  drainage  water,  and  the  character  of  the  subsoil 
all  being  elements  which  must  enter  into  the  calculation. 


20  DRAINAGE. 

When  the  site  is  on  the  side  or  foot  of  a  hill,  it  is  gener- 
ally necessary  to  cut  off  the  water  that  drains  from  the 
higher  level,  by  constructing  drains  across  the  hill  and 
connecting  these  with  drains  at  right  angles  running 
down  through  the  garden  site.  The  accompanying  dia- 
gram more  fully  explains  this. 


The  two  upper  sloping  lines  represent  two  drains  on 
the  higher  level  which  intercept  the  water  draining  from 
the  hill,  and  the  parallel  lines  running  down  the  descent 
through  the  garden,  indicate  drains  either  discharging  into 
a  pond  or  brook,  or  connecting  with  a  main  drain  which 
conveys  the  water  to  some  proper  outlet  of  discharge.  If 
the  land  is  on  a  ridge  the  lateral  drains  should  be  right  up 


and  down  the  slope  of  the  land,  and  connect  with  main 
drains  in  the  depression;  as  in  the  above  diagram. 


DRAINAGE.  21 

Open  ditch  drains  are  not  to  be  recommended,  as  they 
only  conduct  the  water  away,  and  scarcely,  if  at  all,  produce 
the  effect  of  under-drainage,  and,  besides,  are  in  the  way  of 
plowing  or  similar  operations,  readily  fill  up,  and  their  sides 
become  a  regular  garden  of  weeds.  Where  small  stones 
are  plenty,  trenches  dug  out  to  the  requisite  depth,  and 
filled  in  a  foot  deep  with  stones,  overlaid  with  sod,  the  turf 
side  down,  will  answer  a  useful  purpose.  But  no  sort  of 
drain  is  equal  to,  and  in  the  end  is  so  economical  as  It  inch 
round  draining  tiles,  with  collars  for  the  laterals,  connect- 
ing with  2i  inch  tiles  for  the  mains.  These  tiles  are  laid 


jointed  together,  the  water  percolating  through  the  joints 
and  passing  off  through  the  tiles.  The  proper  depth  to  lay 
them  is  three  feet,  if  the  drains  are  twenty  feet  apart,  and 
four  feet  deep,  if  the  drains  are  forty  feet  apart,  with  a  fall 
of  six  inches  to  the  hundred  feet,  although  less  will  do ;  but 
then  they  will  require  very  great  care  in  the  laying  of  them. 
The  drains  should  run  parallel  with  each  other  if  possible, 
and  down  the  deepest  descent  of  the  land.  In  laying  them, 
care  must  be  had  to  have  the  bottom  of  the  trench  as  truly 
level  and  firm  as  possible,  in  order  to  prevent  sagging  or 
undulations,  as,  if  laid  unevenly,  the  silt  will  settle  in  the 
lower  portions  and  choke  the  drain. 

It  is  not  so  much  the  distance  apart  of  the  drains,  as 
their  depth,  which  affects  their  efficiency— hence,  drainings 
laid  four  feet  deep  and  forty  feet  apart  will  be  as  effica- 
cious as  those  laid  three  feet  deep  and  twenty  feet  apart. 
The  character  of  the  subsoil  must  determine  this.  In 
heavy,  stiff  soils,  they  should  be  placed  twenty  feet  apart 


22  MANURES. 

and  three  feet  deep,  as  the  trenches  will  cost  less  to  exca- 
vate, and  the  hard  subsoil  might  prevent  the  free  passage 
of  the  water  into  the  drains. 


MANURES. 

It  is  useless  to  expect  success  in  gardening,  unless  there 
is  a  plentiful  supply  of  manure  liberally  applied  to  the  soil. 
It  is  this  which  induces  a  rapid  growth  and  produces  that 
succulence  and  ciispness  so  desirable  in  vegetables.  In  a 
large  majority  of  cases  it  is  difficult  to  obtain,  unless  in  the 
neighborhood  of  towns  and  cities,  and  especially  on  farms, 
for  farmers  generally  need  all  they  get  from  their  stables 
for  their  farm  crops,  and  begrudge  what  is  necessary  for 
the  garden.  Hence  it  is  of  great  importance  to  husband 
every  substance  that  has  fertilizing  powers,  and  so  prepare 
it  that  it  will  produce  its  greatest  effects. 

Of  all  materials  containing  fertilizing  powers,  none  is 
equal  to  the  excrements  of  animals,  for  they  contain  all 
the  elements  of  plant  life,  but  not  always  in  the  proper 
proportions,  therefore  they  need  to  be  combined  and  pre- 
pared for  the  special  uses  to  which  they  are  to  be  applied. 
In  the  preparation  of  them  it  is  necessary  to  bring  them 
into  a  less  concentrated  and  more  comminuted  form  than 
they  are  naturally,  and  at  the  same  time  preserve  the 
gases  they  contain;  these  gases  being  the  principal  ele- 
ments in  plant  food. 

Comminution  of  the  mass  is  brought  about  by  fermenta- 
tion, and  this  is  only  another  term  for  combustion  or  burn- 
ing. This  we  see  in  horse  manure  that  has  been  piled  up 
and  allowed  to  become  overheated ;  on  opening  such  a  pile 
of  manure,  we  see  in  it  white  masses  or  streaks  which  are 
only  the  ashes  of  the  manure,  the  rest  of  the  material 


MANURES.  23 

having  been  volatilized  or  dissipated  into  the  atmosphere 
in  the  form  of  various  gases,  these  composing  the  major 
part  of  the  plant  food  in  it.  It  is  the  same  process  that 
takes  place  m  the  combustion  of  coal  or  wood,  only  hi  a 
less  and  slower  degree,  the  product,  heat,  being  the  same. 

The  gases,  either  by  themselves  or  in  combination,  are 
fetid,  and  are  evolved  as  soon  as  the  excrements  are 
voided.  When,  therefore,  manure  gives  out  offensive 
odors,  we  may  be  sure  that  its  gaseous  parts  are  escaping, 
and  that  it  is  losing  its  fertilizing  powers.  To  prevent  this, 
or  to  recover  them  as  they  are  given  off,  is  to  economize 
and  add  to  our  stock  of  fertilizing  materials.  A  similar 
loss  ensues  from  the  evaporation  of  the  liquid  parts  of  the 
manure,  for  the  water  it  contains  in  evaporating  carries 
with  it  large  quantities  of  these  gases,  which  it  absorbs  as 
they  are  evolved,  and  retains  even  when  it  is  hi  the  form  of 
vapor.  Leaching  also  produces  the  same  effect — hence  the 
benefits  arising  from  the  use  of  liquid  manure. 

Manures  should  therefore  not  be  exposed  to  the  action  of 
the  weather,  for  then  they  lose  from  one-half  to  two-thirds 
of  their  strength.  They  should  be  kept  dry,  and  mixed 
with  such  materials  as  will  absorb  the  gases  thrown  off  in 
the  process  of  fermentation.  To  this  end  it  is  true  economy 
to  provide  a  good-sized  open  shed,  in  which  the  manure 
should  be  kept  and  prepared  for  use. 

The  best  absorbents  of  the  gases  arising  from  the  decom- 
position of  the  manure,  are  dry  earth,  peat,  muck,  charcoal 
dust,  leaf  mould,  spent  bark  and  sawdust.  Of  these  dry 
earth  is  always  to  be  obtained  in  summer  time,  when  it  can 
be  laid  away  under  cover  for  winter  use.  Peat  and  muck  are 
generally  to  be  had  on  farms  of  any  extent.  They  should 
never  be  used  when  fresh  dug,  but  should  be  thrown  up  in 
ridges  to  be  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  air  and  frost  to 


24  MANURES. 

pulverize  them.  They  should  then  be  composted  with  a 
mixture  made  of  lime  and  salt,  as  directed  in  the  next  para- 
graph, using  four  bushels  of  the  mixture  to  one  cord  of  the 
peat  or  muck ;  this  should  be  done  under  cover,  so  as  to 
keep  off  rain,  which  would  cause  the  mixture  to  leach  out 
and  so  weaken  its  strength.  It  should  be  allowed  to  lay  for 
a  month  or  six  weeks,  when  it  may  be  used  in  mixing  with 
the  manure,  the  quantity  to  be  used  depending  upon  the 
character  and  quality  of  the  manure;  enough  must  be  used 
to  prevent  the  escape  of  any  offensive  odors,  which,  as  we 
have  already  stated,  indicates  the  escape  of  the  fertilizing 
gases ;  but  as  a  general  rule,  one-third  of  green  or  fresh 
manure  to  two-thirds  of  the  peat  or  muck  will  be  a  proper 
proportion. 

To  make  the  dissolving  mixture  referred  to  above,  take 
three  bushels  of  lime,  as  freshly  burned  as  possible,  and 
dake  it  with  water  in  which  one  bushel  of  salt  has  been 
dissolved,  using  only  just  enough  of  water  to  dissolve  the 
salt.  Mix  it  well  and  keep  it  under  cover,  and  let  it  be  ten 
or  fifteen  days  old  before  using.  Lime  alone  will  decom- 
pose peat  or  muck,  but  it  is  far  less  powerful  than  when 
combined  with  salt  as  above.  It  should  alivays  be  applied 
in  a  dry  and  fresh  state,  not  air  or  water  slaked. 

Unleached  wood  ashes,  applied  at  the  rate  of  twenty- 
five  bushels  to  a  cord  of  muck,  will  also  decompose  it.  The 
sparlings  or  refuse  of  potash  warehouses,  applied  at  the 
rate  of  from  twenty  to  one  hundred  pounds  to  a  cord,  will 
also  have  a  like  effect. 

When  dry  earth  is  used  as  an  absorbent,  it  should  be 
mixed  about  half  and  half  with  the  manure,  moistening  it 
with  a  weak  solution  of  sulphuric  acid— oil  of  vitriol— about 
one  pound  of  acid  to  forty-five  or  fifty  gallons  of  water. 
This  takes  up  the  volatile  ammonia  which  arises  from  the 


MANURES.  25 

manure,  and  converts  it  into  sulphate  of  ammonia,  which 
is  soluble  but  not  volatile,  yet  is  one  of  the  most  powerful 
fertilizers.  Or  gypsum — plaster  of  Paris — as  prepared  for 
agricultural  purposes,  may  be  added  to  the  dry  earth  to 
increase  its  absorbing  powers,  and  to  fix  the  ammoniacal 
vapors.  A  hundred  pounds  to  a  cord  of  dry  earth  will  be 
sufficient. 

Where  horses,  cows  and  pigs  are  kept,  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  keep  their  manure  separate,  but  it  is  best  to  throw 
it  into  one  common  pile  and  treat  it  as  we  have  suggested. 
The  urine  of  the  animals  is  of  very  great  value,  and  every 
care  should  be  taken  to  save  it,  by  using  saw-dust,  dry 
earth  or  other  absorbents  in  the  stalls.  All  the  soap-suds, 
chamber-lye  and  kitchen  slops  should  be  thrown  on  the 
compost  heap,  as  they  largely  aid  in  making  up  its  effect- 
iveness. Poultry  manure  is  sometimes  needed  for  special 
crops,  it  should  therefore  be  kept  by  itself,  mixing  it  liber- 
ally with  dry  earth  or  gypsum,  or  these  may  be  used  with 
great  advantage  by  frequently  sprinkling  them  on  the  floor 
of  the  poultry  house. 

Night  soil  is  the  most  powerful  of  all  manures,  and 
arrangements  should  always  be  made  to  preserve  it  by  the 
use  of  dry  absorbents,  such  as  dry  earth,  dry  muck  or  char- 
coal dust.  A  liberal  use  of  these  will  destroy  its  oflensive- 
ness,  and  enable  it  to  be  used  as  readily  as  any  other 
manure.  The  earth-closets,  now  coming  so  generally  into 
use,  soon  save  their  cost  in  rendering  this  manure  available. 
When  used,  it  should  be  very  largely  diluted  with  an 
absorbent,  as  otherwise  it  will  kill  the  plants  to  which  it  is 
applied. 

Lime  acts  chiefly  as  a  decomposing  agent,  as  it  dissolves 
the  silica  and  other  constituents  of  the  soil  and  the  vege- 
table matter  in  it,  and  so  renders  them  fit  for  plant  food. 


26  MANURES. 

Shell  lime  is  the  purest  and  best,  but  all  limes  should  be 
used  freshly  burnt,  as  when  air- slaked  they  are  almost 
inert.  When  used  alone  it  should  always  be  applied  as  a 
top  dressing,  and  should  never  be  mixed  alone  with  other 
manures  containing  ammonia,  as  it  liberates  the  ammonia, 
for  which  reason  it  should  always  be  accompanied  with 
absorbents  when  composted  with  manure. 

Soot  is  an  excellent  manure  for  many  vegetables,  such 
as  cabbages,  melons,  onions,  etc.,  as  it  contains  sulphur 
and  also  destroys  insects. 

Salt  is  useful  as  a  manure  for  some  vegetables,  such  as 
asparagus  and  sea-kale.  It  is  best  applied  mixed  with 
the  compost  used  in  manuring  them,  at  the  rate  of  a 
bushel  of  salt  to  a  cord  of  compost ;  if  more  than  this 
quantity  is  used,  it  will  be  apt  to  pickle  the  manure  and 
so  prevent  its  decomposition. 

Bones  are  a  most  excellent  manure,  but  must  be  dis- 
solved or  be  finely  ground  before  being  used.  Where  few 
bones  accrue,  as  in  an  ordinary  family,  and  unleached 
ashes  can  be  had,  bones  can  be  dissolved  in  the  following 
way :  Take  a  large  cask,  set  it  in  a  cool,  shady  pla.ce,  and 
in  it  place  a  layer  of  bones,  four  or  five  inches  deep,  and  on 
these  place  a  layer  of  the  same  depth  of  the  unleached 
ashes,  wetting  them  with  as  much  water  as  they  will  take 
up  without  leaching  through,  and  so  continue  a  layer  of 
bones  and  a  layer  of  ashes  alternately.  In  ten  or  twelve 
months  they  will  be  dissolved,  except,  perhaps,  a  few  near 
the  top,  which  may  form  the  bottom  layer  for  the  next  year. 
The  bones  and  ashes  should  be  shoveled  out,  some  more 
dry  ashes  added  and  well  mixed  together,  and  the  compost 
is  ready  to  use.  A  more  rapid  mode  of  dissolving  them,  is 
to  place  them  in  a  tub,  and  moisten  them  with  a  solution 
of  one-third  their  weight  of  sulphuric  acid  in  five  or  six 


MANURES.  27 

times  its  weight  of  water.  The  acid  thus  diluted  should 
only  be  sprinkled  on  them  a  little  at  a  time,  until  the  bones 
become  a  soft,  pasty  mass,  which  can  be  mixed  with  dry 
peat  or  earth,  and  then  used  as  a  manure. 

lione-dust  or  finely  ground  bone  is  sold  commercially  by 
persons  who  have  mills  made  purposely  for  the  purpose  of 
crashing  and  grinding  them.  The  crushed  bones  are 
generally  about  half  an  inch  long,  mixed  with  the  powder 
or  dust  of  the  bones  resulting  from  crushing  them.  The 
bone-dust  or  meal  is  the  bones  reduced  to  a  powder  resem- 
bling Indian  meal.  This  latter  is  best  adapted  for  gar- 
dening purposes,  as  it  produces  more  immediate  effects 
upon  the  crops.  Crushed  bones  and  bone-dust  will  fer- 
ment if  thrown  into  a  heap  and  moistened;  hence,  in  order 
to  the  more  evenly  distribute  them  on  the  land,  and  to 
make  them  produce  a  more  immediate  or  quicker  effect, 
they  may  be  composted  with  moist  earth  for  two  or  three 
weeks  before  using.  When  used  for  cabbage,  cauliflowers, 
turnips  and  plants  of  the  same  family,  some  cultivators 
add  sulphur  to  the  bone-dust  in  the  proportion  of  seven 
pounds  of  flour  of  sulphur  to  one  hundred  pounds  of  bone- 
dust,  previous  to  fermenting  it.  The  mass  will  give  off 
strong  fumes  of  sulphur,  and  when  applied  to  the  soil  keeps 
off  the  attacks  of  the  turnip-fly.  We  also  think  that  the 
sulphur  acts  as  a  special  manure  to  plants  of  the  kind 
indicated,  as  they  all  contain  sulphur  in  their  composition, 
as  is  evidenced  in  the  sulphureted-hydrogen  gas  which 
they  throw  off  when  in  a  state  of  decay,  or  in  their  effect 
of  tarnishing  silver  when  brought  in  contact  with  them. 

Horn  shavings  are  similar  in  their  character  and  action 
to  bones;  they  should  be  mixed  with  five  or  six  times 
their  bulk  of  earth,  and  allowed  to  ferment  five  or  six  weeks 
before  using.  They  make  a  most  excellent  manure  for 


28  MANURES. 

potatoes  and  corn.  Tanner's  waste  should  be  treated  in 
the  same  way.  Or  either  may  be  rotted  by  composting 
them  with  manure,  in  the  proportion  of  one  part  of  shav- 
ings or  waste  to  fifteen  parts  of  manure. 

Super-phosphate  is  a  commercial  manure,  made  by  add- 
ing sulphuric  acid  to  burnt  bones  as  used  in  the  sugar 
refineries,  although  it  can  be  made  from  fresh  bones.  It  is 
somewhat  uncertain  in  its  effects  in  some  soils,  as  it  will 
sometimes  be  inert  the  first  season  after  being  applied, 
and  only  act  the  second  year.  Some  manufacturers  mis: 
with  it  the  blood  and  animal  waste  of  the  slaughter-houses. 
This  ensures  its  immediate  action  and  adds  greatly  to  its 
value. 

Fish-guano  is  the  dried  refuse  of  the  fish-oil  manufac- 
turers, finely  ground.  It  is  a  powerful  fertilizer,  and  is 
also  best  used  when  composted  with  earth. 

Guano  is  well  known  as  a  powerful  fertilizer.  Its  great 
value  consists  in  the  amount  of  ammonia  it  contains.  It 
should  always  be  used  composted  with  earth,  to  which 
gypsum  or  a  weak  solution  of  sulphuric  acid  has  been 
added,  in  order  to  change  the  ammonia  from  a  volatile 
state  to  a  fixed  and  soluble  one.  It  is  immediate  in  its 
effects.  Never  use  ashes  or  any  alkali  with  guano. 

Poudrette  is  the  desiccated  night  soil  from  the  cities.  In 
preparing  it  charred  peat  is  generally  used  as  an  absorb- 
ent. It  is  an  excellent  manure,  producing  immediate 
ejects,  and  does  not  need  composting.  Unfortunately  it  is 
not  always  of  certain  value,  as  the  night  soil  from  the 
cities  is  often  mixed  with  sand,  coal  ashes  and  similar 
refuse. 

Hops,  as  the  refuse  of  the  breweries,  when  they  can  be 
obtained,  are  a  very  powerful  manure,  by  some  considered 
to  be  even  more  valuable  than  horse  manure,  They  should 


MANURES.  29 

be  rotted  down  very  slowly,  for  if  allowed  to  ferment 
strongly  they  lose  a  large  portion  of  their  value.  It  is  best, 
perhaps,  to  compost  them  with  stable  manure. 

Street  sweepings  are  very  uncertain  in  their  strength, 
and  we  place  but  little  value  upon  them  as  a  fertilizer,  the 
manure  being  in  very  uncertain  proportions  to  the  sand 
and  earth  swept  up  with  it.  It  besides  has  generally  its 
strength  dried  out  or  washed  out  before  being  swept  up. 
When  dried  it  makes  a  good  absorbent  for  the  compost 
heap. 

Gypsum,  or  plaster,  is  not  of  much  value  to  garden 
crops,  except  as  an  ingredient  in  the  compost  heap,  where 
its  facility  of  absorbing  ammonia  renders  it  of  great  value. 

Sulphur  has  lately  been  recommended  as  a  manure  for 
all  plants  of  the  cabbage  family,  for  which  we  have  no 
doubt  it  may  prove  of  value.  It  has  been  applied  hi  the 
form  of  flour  of  sulphur,  at  the  rate  of  six  to  eight  pounds 
per  acre.  Sulphuric  acid  is  sometimes  used  on  limestone 
soils  at  the  rate  of  thirty  to  forty  pounds,  diluted  with  two 
hundred  times  its  weight  of  water,  or  two  gallons  to  three 
or  four  hundred  gallons  of  water. 

Spent  tan-bark  and  sawdust  will  make  good  manure, 
when  treated  with  the  lime  and  salt  mixture  already 
described.  It  neutralizes  any  injurious  acids  that  may  be 
in  them.  But  it  is  better  to  use  such  materials  as  these, 
sea-weed  and  similar  matters,  as  bedding  for  the  animals, 
as  they  largely  absorb  the  urine  from  them. 

In  applying  manure  to  the  soil,  never  apply  more  than 
may  be  judged  sufficient  for  the  present  crop,  as  it  is  poor 
economy  to  bury  your  capital  in  the  soil.  This  is  especially 
the  case  in  light  sandy  soils.  Manures  should  also  be 
alternated— that  is  to  say,  the  same  sort  of  manure  should 
not  be  continuously  applied  to  the  same  piece  of  land,  but 


30  MANURES. 

some  other  kind  occasionally  used,  in  order  to  furnish  the 
soil  with  all  the  elements  of  plant  growth. 

Liquid  manures  are  also  of  service  to  many  crops,  but 
should  always  be  used  freely  diluted. 

All  manures  for  garden  purposes  should  be  immediately 
plowed  or  spaded  in  after  they  are  applied. 

The  quantities  of  each  kind  to  be  applied  to  an  acre  are 
given  below.  They  vary  much  in  their  range,  as  the 
present  condition  of  the  soil  as  to  fertility  must  be  taken 
into  consideration,  and  this  must  be  left  to  the  judgment 
of  the  cultivator. 

Barn-yard  manure;  five  to  twenty  tons,  or  thirty  to 
forty  cubic  yards. 

Bone-dust ;  sixteen  to  twenty  bushels,  or  seven  hundred 
to  twelve  hundred  pounds. 

Fresh  fish ;  twenty-five  to  forty  bushels. 

Fish  guano ;  four  to  six  hundred  pounds. 

Guano ;  three  to  eight  hundred  pounds. 

Gypsum ;  five  to  six  hundred  pounds. 

Horn  shavings ;  twenty-five  to  forty  bushels. 

Hops ;  thirty  to  forty  tons. 

Lime ;  fifty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  bushels. 

Night-soil ;  twenty  bushels. 

Poudrette ;  twenty-five  to  thirty-five  bushels. 

Salt ;  two  to  six  bushels. 

Soot ;  twenty  to  fifty  bushels. 

Sulphur ;  six  to  eight  pounds. 

Sulphuric  acid  j  thirty  to  forty  pounds. 

Super-phosphate ;  five  hundred  to  a  thousand  pounds. 

Tanner's  refuse ;  five  to  eight  hundred  pounds. 

Wood  ashes ;  twenty  to  forty  bushels. 

We  have  devoted  a  large  space  to  this  subject,  but  its 
importance  requires  it.  If,  there  is  anything  in  which 


ROTATION   OF    CEOPS.  31 

amateur  cultivators  are  lacking,  it  is  in  having  a  liberal 
supply  of  manure,  the  very  corner-stone  of  all  gardening 
operations.  It  is  therefore  of  the  first  importance  to  know 
how  to  make  the  most  of  it. 


ROTATION  OF  CROPS, 

The  necessity  of  the  rotation  of  crops  was  long  ago 
recognized,  and  was  supposed  to  arise  from  the  plants 
giving  out  excrementitious  matters  from  their  roots  into 
the  soil,  and  so  poisoning  it.  But  it  is  now  found  that 
plants  give  out  but  little  of  such  matters,  and  that  the 
necessity  of  rotation  principally  arises  from  the  plants  of 
any  particular  class  exhausting  the  soil  of  those  substances 
which  are  necessary  for  their  own  particular  nourishment, 
no  two  classes  of  plants  requiring  the  same  combination  of 
substances  for  their  particular  support.  Mr.  Bridgeman, 
in  his  "  Young  Gardener's  Assistant,'7  has  so  tersely  given 
instructions  on  this  point,  that  we  here  subjoin  them. 

Fall  spinach  is  an  excellent  preparative  crop  for  beets, 
carrots,  radishes,  salsify,  and  all  other  tap  as  well  as 
tuberous-rooted  vegetables. 

Celery  or  potatoes  constitute  a  suitable  preparation  for 
cabbage,  cauliflower,  and  all  other  plants  of  the  Brassica 
family;  as  also  for  artichokes,  asparagus,  lettuce  and 
onions,  provided  the  ground  be  well  situated  for  them. 

Lands  that  have  long  lain  in  pasture  are,  for  the  first 
three  or  four  years  after  being  tilled,  superior  for  cabbage, 
turnips  and  potatoes,  and  afterward  for  culinary  vegeta- 
bles generally. 

Fibrous-rooted  plants  should  bo  alternated  with  tap  or 
tuberous-rooted  ones,  and  vice  versa. 

Plants  which  produce  luxuriant  tops,  so  as  to  shade  the 


32  DOTATION   OF   CROPS. 

ground,  should  be  succeeded  by  such  as  yield  small  tops, 
or  narrow  leaves. 

Plants  which  during  their  growth  require  the  operation 
of  stirring  the  earth  should  precede  such  as  do  not  admit 
of  such  culture. 

Ground  which  has  been  occupied  by  artichokes,  aspara- 
gus, rhubarb,  sea-kale,  or  such  other  crops  as  remain  long 
on  a  given  spot,  should  be  subjected  to  a  regular  rotation 
of  crops,  for  as  long  a  time  at  least  as  it  remained  under 
such  permanent  crops.  These  should  be  renewed  on  the 
same  principle  as  often  as  they  fail  to  produce  luxuriantly. 
No  two  crops  should  be  allowed  to  ripen  their  seeds  in 
succession,  in  the  same  soil. 

Manure  should  be  applied  to  the  most  profitable  and 
exhausting  crops.  Root  and  seed  crops  are  always  more 
exhausting  than  leaf  crops. 

The  following  ten  years'  rotation  is  from  an  English 
work,  and  we  give  it  to  our  readers  as  an  example  of  how  a 
piece  of  ground  should  be  managed : 

1 — peas  and  beans;  2— broccoli,  cabbage  and  winter 
greens;  3— carrots,  parsnips,  beets,  scorzonera,  salsify, 
skirret,  parsley ;  4 — onions,  cauliflower,  turnips ;  5 — spin- 
ach, spring  onions,  and  other  secondary  crops ;  6 — savoy, 
broccoli,  winter  greens,  red  cabbage,  leeks;  7 — potatoes; 
8 — turnips,  cabbage,  broccoli;  9 — celery,  cardoons;  10 — 
Trench  beans,  etc.,  as  at  first. 

The  secondary  crops  mentioned  above  are  those  of  short 
duration,  such  as  lettuces,  radishes,  salads,  annual  herbs, 
etc.  These  can  be  frequently  planted  between  the  rows 
of  the  main  crops,  and  taken  off  before  they  interfere  with 
each  other. 


TRANSPLANTING.  33 

TRANSPLANTING. 

This  is  an  operation  requiring  much  care  and  attention, 
for  if  these  are  not  given,  success  is  very  doubtful.  Many 
vegetables  are  the  better  for  being  transplanted  from  a 
seed-bed,  instead  of  being  sown  where  they  are  to  remain. 
Of  this  class  are  all  the  Brassica  or  cabbage  family,  lettuce, 
endive,  celery,  cardoons,  tomatoes,  onions  and  leeks.  Peas 
and  beans  are  improved  in  precocity  by  it.  Ruta-bagas, 
radishes,  parsnips,  beet,  scorzonera,  salsify  and  sldrret  can 
be  transplanted,  and  so  vacancies  in  the  rows  can  be  filled 
up,  but  the  operation  does  not  effect  any  particular  im- 
provement. Turnips,  carrots,  spinach,  cress  and  mustard 
cannot  be  transplanted  with  any  success. 

In  transplanting,  the  first  requisite  is  to  see  that  the 
plants  are  properly  dug  up,  in  such  a  way  as  to  secure  all 
the  roots.  We  do  not  approve  of  shortening  the  roots  in 
the  process,  and  think  that,  unless  in  very  exceptionable 
cases,  the  tops  should  not  be  shortened  either.  If  the  soil 
of  the  seed-bed,  at  the  time  of  transplanting,  is  not  quite 
moist,  it  should  receive  a  good  soaking  of  water  two  or 
three  hours  before  the  plants  are  to  be  taken  up.  These 
should  be  carefully  lifted  with  a  spade  or  garden  trowel, 
and  not  drawn  or  pulled  up. 

Great  care  must  be  used  in  planting  them,  to  see  that 
they  are  firmly  set  in  the  ground,  by  treading  the  soil  firmly 
with  the  foot  on  each  side  of  the  plant.  When  planted 
with  a  dibble,  after  the  hole  is  made  and  the  plant  set  in 
it,  re-enter  the  dibble  at  an  angle,  two  or  three  inches  from 
the  plant,  and  then  draw  the  head  of  the  dibble  sideways 
towards  the  plant,  as  shown  in  the  cut  on  page  16.  This 
presses  the  soil  close  up  to  the  roots  and  sets  the  plant 
firmly. 


34 


TRANSPLANTING. 


The  best  time  to  transplant  is  on  a  cloudy  day,  just  be- 
fore a  rain  storm;  but  if  it  has  to  be  done  in  bright 
weather,  it  should  be  done  after  the  heat  of  the  day  is 
over.  The  plants,  as  removed  from  the  seed-bed,  should 
be  placed  hi  a  pan  of  water,  wetting  their  tops  well.  The 
moisture  adhering  to  the  roots  when  planted  sufficiently 
moistens  the  soil  to  keep  the  plants  from  wilting.  In 
sandy,  light  soils,  transplanting  may  be  done  immediately 
after  a  rain  storm,  but  in  heavy  soils  it  should  be  deferred 
until  the  saturation  of  the  soil  has  subsided.  If  dry 
weather  ensues  immediately  after  planting,  the  young 
plants  will  require  watering  and  perhaps  shading,  as  wilt- 
ing sets  them  back  greatly. 

The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  plants  that  can 
be  set  on  an  acre  of  land  at  the  various  distances  indicated. 

NUMBER  or  PLANTS  REQUIRED  FOR  AN  ACRE  OF  GROUND, 

AT  THE  DISTANCES  INDICATED. 


1  i 

H 

tbyl   i 

"  by  1| 

Tt  43,500 
19,3GO 

4£  J 

It.  by 

1 

ft  2,151 

"                   8  712 

2 

"  by  1 

21,780 

5 

((      1L^ 

2 

"                   4  356 

9, 

"  bv2 

10,890 

5 

"  bv 

2  904 

'  by  24 

6,9o'J 

5 

"  bv 

4 

'                   2  178 

3 

'  by  1 

14,520 

5 

«  by 

5 

'  .                  1  742 

3 

'  by  2 

7,260 

54 

-bv 

54 

(                   1  440 

3 

'  by  3 

4,840 

6 

'  bv 

61 

1                   1  °10 

3* 

'  by3i 

3,555 

fii 

'  by 

1                   1  031 

4 

'  by  1 

10,890 

,  "j 
bv 

7 

'                       888 

4 

'  by  2 

5,445 

8 

'  bv 

'                      680 

4 

'  by  3    ' 

3  630 

9 

1  1)V 

9 

'                      537 

4     < 

'  bv4    ' 

..  2,72.3 

10 

/  *~ 

1  bv 

10 

'...               .    435 

If  any  intermediate  distances  are  used,  the  number  of 
plants  required  can  be  ascertained  by  dividing  43,560,  the 
number  of  square  feet  in  an  acre,  by  the  number  of  square 
feet  in  the  different  distances.  Thus,  2  feet  by  2$  fcct=5, 
and  that  divided  into  43,560,  gives  8,712,  the  number  of 
plants  required  at  the  distances  named. 


COLD   FRAMES  AND   HOT-BEDS. 


35 


COLD  FRAMES  AND  HOT-BEDS. 

A  cold  frame  may  be  made  of  any  size,  from  a  one  to  a 
four  sash  frame.  A  sash  is  generally  made  six  feet  long, 
and  three  feet  one  inch  wide.  The  stiles  or  side  bars 
should  each  be  two  and  a  half  inches  wide ;  the  parting 
strips  of  the  astragals  should  each  be  half  an  inch  wide 
and  six  inches  apart,  to  accommodate  six  by  eight  inch 
glass;  the  thickness  of  the  wood  being  an  inch  and  a  Hall". 


The  box  or  frame  should  be  two  feet  high  at  the  back, 
and  sixteen  inches  at  the  front,  and  should  be  made  of 
inch  and  a  half  plank.  When  two  or  more  sashes  are  used, 
brace-pieces  six  inches  wide  must  be  set  across  the  frame, 
from  back  to  front,  and  dovetailed  into  each,  so  as  to 
carry  the  sashes  and  stiffen  the  frame.  On  these  braces  a 
parting-strip  must  be  nailed,  in  order  to  separate  the 
sashes  and  cause  them  to  run  true.  On  each  side  or  end 


36          COLD   FRAMES   AND   HOT-BEDS. 

of  the  frame,  a  strip  projecting  above  the  ends  the  thick- 
ness of  the  sash  must  be  nailed,  to  keep  the  sash  hi  place. 

Such  a  frame  is  usually  just  set  on  the  ground  in  a  shel- 
tered situation,  and  banked  up  with  manure,  leaves,  salt 
hay  or  earth  to  keep  out  the  frost  as  much  as  possible. 

There  are  two  ways  of  making  a  hot-bed.  One  is  to 
excavate  the  ground  to  a  depth  of  two  to  two  and  a  half 
feet,  and  the  area  of  the  frame  to  be  used.  The  other  is 
to  stack  the  manure  above  ground  in  a  square  pile  two  and 
a  half  feet  high,  and  about  eighteen  niches  wider  each 
way  than  the  area  of  the  frame.  The  first  is  the  safest 
and  best  method. 

The  manure  to  be  used  should  be  fresh  horse-dung,  to 
which  should  be  added,  if  they  can  be  had,  an  equal  bulk 
of  leaves.  These  must  be  thoroughly  mixed  together  and 
thrown  into  a  conical  heap,  treading  it  down  firmly  as  it  is 
made  up.  In  a  few  days  fermentation  will  take  place,  and 
steam  escape  freely  from  tlie  heap.  It  must  now  be  turned 
over,  well  shaken  out,  and  made  up  into  a  pile  as  before, 
and  allowed  to  remain  until  a  second  fermentation  takes 
place,  which  will  be  in  three  or  four  days.  It  should  now 
be  placed  in  the  pit  or  piled  up,  as  the  case  may  be,  beat- 
ing it  down  firmly  with  the  back  of  the  fork,  and  trodden 
down  so  as  to  make  it  of  uniform  consistence.  The  frames 
and  sashes  are  then  to  be  placed  upon  it  and  banked  up 
with  manure,  leaves  or  other  suitable  material,  and  then 
kept  close  until  fermentation  again  ensues.  In  two  or 
three  days  a  thermometer  plunged  into  the  mass  will 
probably  indicate  100  degrees;  a  little  air  may  now  be 
given  by  pulling  down  the  sashes  an  inch  or  two,  and 
when  the  thermometer  indicates  90  or  85  degrees,  six  or 
eight  inches  deep  of  soil  should  be  placed  over  the  manure. 
This  soil  should  be  composed  of  one-third  well-rotted 


COLD    FRAMES   AND    HOT-BEDS.  37 

manure  and  two-thirds  of  good  garden  soil.  In  a  day  or 
two  more  the  bed  will  be  ready  for  sowing  seeds  in.  The 
preparation  of  the  bed  should  be  so  timed  as  to  have  it 
ready  for  use  by  the  first  of  March. 

In  this  bed,  during  the  first  week  in  March,  may  be  sown 
seeds  of  cabbage,  lettuce,  peppers,  egg  plants  and  toma- 
toes, and  any  others  that  may  be  needed  for  early  plant- 
ing. The  seeds  should  be  sown  in  shallow  drills  six  or 
eight  inches  apart,  and  covered  with  light  soil,  patting  it 
down  gently  with  a  piece  of  board.  When  they  require 
watering,  it  should  be  done  with  tepid  water  and  given 
from  a  watering  pot  with  a  very  fine  rose. 

After  the  seeds  are  sown,  the  frame  should  be  protected 
at  night  or  in  dull,  cold  weather  by  coverings  of  wooden 
or  straw  shutters,  or  straw  mats,  so  as  to  keep  it  at  as 
near  an  equable  temperature  as  possible.  This  must  not 
be  neglected,  especially  the  nightly  covering,  until  the  first 
week  in  May.  The  bed  must  be  kept  aired  in  the  day-time 
by  raising  or  lowering  the  sashes  whenever  the  thermom- 
eter shows  75  degrees,  but  should  not  be  allowed  to  go 
below  68  degrees.  Great  attention  must  be  paid  to  this, 
for  if  kept  too  warm,  the  plants  will  be  soft  and  drawn,  or 
perhaps  scorched,  and  if  too  cool,  will  become  stunted  by 
being  checked  in  their  growth. 

When  the  tomato,  egg  plant  and  pepper  plants  have 
grown  to  be  two  or  three  inches  high,  as  many  as  are 
wanted  should  be  transplanted,  one  each  into  three-inch 
pots,  and  set  back  into  the  frame,  watering  them  as  soon 
as  potted,  and  shading  them  from  the  sun  for  three  or  four 
days.  Cabbage  and  lettuce  plants  may  be  pricked  out 
into  a  cold  frame,  and  then  watered  and  shaded  as  before. 
They  should  be  kept  as  warm  as  possible  in  the  cold  frame, 
but  be  well  aired  in  the  middle  of  bright,  sunny  days,  and 


38  COLD    FRAMES   AND    HOT-BEDS. 

will  make  nice,  stocky  plants  for  setting  out  from  the  mid- 
dle of  April  to  the  first  of  May.  Those  wintered  over  in  a 
cold  frame,  however,  make  the  best  plants.  Tomatoes,  egg 
plants  and  peppers  must  be  kept  in  the  hot-bed  frame 
until  the  middle  of  May,  gradually  increasing  the  airing  to 
keep  the  plants  stocky. 

When  it  is  desired  to  raise  sweet  potato  plants,  the 
making  of  the  hot-bed  should  be  so  timed  as  to  have  it 
ready  for  use  by  the  middle  of  April.  A  compost  of  sand 
and  leaf  mould  must  be  made  and  laid  on  the  hot-bed  six 
inches  deep.  The  tubers  are  to  be  laid  closely  together  on 
this,  and  a  thickness  of  two  inches  of  the  compost  laid 
evenly  over  them.  Withhold  watering  them  until  they 
begin  to  grow.  They  will  furnish  shoots  for  planting  out 
in  five  or  six  weeks  after  starting. 

The  ground,  where  a  cold  frame  is  to  be  placed  in  the 
spring,  should  be,  the  previous  autumn,  covered  up  with 
manure,  leaves  or  similar  materials,  to  keep  the  ground 
from  freezing.  Before  setting  the  frame  over  it,  it  should 
be  well  spaded  and  made  as  fine  as  possible  before  setting 
out  the  plants,  so  that  they  may  take  root  speedily  after 
being  transplanted  into  it. 

For  covering  the  sashes,  shutters  made  of  three-quarter 
inch  boards  should  be  made  the  size  of  the  sashes.  Or 
shutters  may  be  made  by  making  a  frame  of  furring  strips, 
set  on  edge,  nailing  lathes  across  it  ten  or  twelve  inches 
apart  on  the  under  side,  filling  it  up  with  straw  or  salt  hay, 
and  then  nailing  a  similar  set  of  lathes  on  the  upper  side. 
When  shutters  made  in  either  of  these  ways  are  used,  strips 
of  old  carpet  or  canvas  should  be  laid  along  the  upper  and 
lower  ends  of  the  sashes,  of  sufficient  width  to  hang  over 
the  back  and  front  of  the  frame,  so  as  to  cover  the  joint 
where  the  top  and  bottom  rail  ^of  the  sashes  rest  on  the 


COLD    F II  AMES    A  XI)    HOT-BEDS.  39 

edges  of  the  planks  composing  the  frame,  the  object  be- 
ing to  prevent  the  cold  air  drawing  in  through  the  joints. 

Market  gardeners  generally  use  straw  mats,  made  from 
rye  straw,  bulrushes  or  marsh  sedge.     These  are  best 


made  by  making  a  frame,  the  inside  of  which  will  be  the 
width  of  the  sash  and  a  foot  longer  than  it.  Bore  five 
holes  in  the  top  and  bottom  rails,  the  outside  ones  to  be 
three  and  a  half  inches  from  the  sides  of  the  frame,  and  the 
rest  eight  inches  apart.  This  will  give  five  warp  strings 
and  make  the  mat  the  width  of  the  sash.  These  warp 
strings,  which  should  be  of  tarred  string  or  marline,  are 
to  be  fastened  in  the  holes,  and  then  the  straw  or  sedge 
laid  in  small  handfuls  upon  the  lower  strings;  as  each 
handful  is  laid  on,  the  upper  string  must  be  carried  over  it 
and  a  turn  taken  on  the  lower  one,  and  so  on  until  the  mat 
is  finished,  by  tying  each  pair  of  strings  together  at  each 
end.  The  accompanying  cut  will  further  explain  this.  By 
making  it  a  foot  longer  than  the  sash,  six  inches  of  the 
mat  hangs  over  back  and  front,  and  so  saves  the  necessity 
of  carpet  or  canvas.  When  finished,  the  mat  should  be 
about  three  inches  thick.  They  are  much  warmer  than 
any  other  covering. 


40  SEEDS   AND    SEED    SOWING. 

Hot-beds  and  frames  should  always  be  protected  by  be- 
ing placed  in  the  angle  of  a  close  board  fence,  six  feet  high, 
leaving  proper  space  to  get  round  them.  The  fence  should 
only  be  on  the  northern  and  western  sides,  so  as  to  keep 
off  the  cold  winds. 

Where  there  is  no  convenience  for  making  a  hot-bed, 
early  vegetable  plants  can  be  raised  in  boxes  covered  with 
loose  panes  of  glass,  and  placed  in  a  sunny  window  in  the 
kitchen  or  sitting-room.  They  will  not  come  forward  as 
fast  as  those  in  a  hot-bed,  so  should  be  started  a  couple 
of  weeks  sooner. 


SEEDS  AND  SEED  SOWING. 

Too  much  care  cannot  be  exercised  in  obtaining  good 
seeds,  for  it  is  very  provoking  to  spend  money  and  labor 
upon  a  crop,  and  find  that  one-half  or  two-thirds  of  it  is 
not  true  to  name,  or  is  of  inferior  quality.  It  makes  all 
the  difference  in  the  world,  whether  wo  get  ninety-nine 
good  heads  of  cabbage  out  of  a  hundred  planted,  or  only 
get  ten  out  of  a  hundred,  and  yet  we  have  seen  such  cases. 
Seed  that  may  cost  a  dollar  an  ounce  would,  in  such  cases, 
be  vastly  more  economical  than  that  which  only  cost 
twenty-five  cents.  Always,  therefore,  buy  the  best  seeds, 
even  at  a  higher  price,  from  seedsmen  of  established  repu- 
tation. 

With  all  the  care  used  by  seed  growers  and  seedsmen  to 
obtain  only  the  best,  yet  sometimes  disappointments  will 
ensue,  for  as  nearly  ah1  the  vegetables  we  grow  are  mon- 
strosities, or  abnormal  developments  of  the  plants,  there 
is  a  continual  effort  in  nature  to  revert  to  the  original  typo 
from  whence  the  variety  originated,  and  these  leaps  back- 
ward are  sometimes  very  sudden.  The  accusations  brought 
against  seedsmen,  of  selling  seeds  that  do  not  or  will  not 


SEEDS    AND    SEED    SOWING.  41 

grow,  are,  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  perfect  nonsense,  as  the 
failure  to  make  them  grow  is  due  to  the  ignorance  or  care- 
lessness of  the  cultivator.  There  are  few  vegetable  seeds 
that  do  not  vegetate  freely  when  they  are  more  than  a 
year  old,  and  are  just  as  good  and  sometimes  better  than 
when  fresh  from  the  plant. 

Those  that  are  only  considered  as  retaining  their  vitality 
for  one  year,  are  leeks,  onions,  parsnips  and  rhubarb. 

For  two  years:  beans  and  peas  of  all  kinds,  peppers, 
carrot,  egg  plant,  okra,  salsify,  scorzoncra,  cress,  nastur- 
tium, thyme,  sage  and  herb  seeds  generally. 

For  three  years :  artichoke,  asparagus,  endive,  lettuce, 
fetticus,  mustard,  parsley,  skirret,  spinach  and  radish. 

For  four  years:  broccoli,  cauliflower,  cabbage,  kale, 
turnip  and  celery. 

For  five  years:  beet,  cucumber,  melon,  pumpkin,  squash, 
tomato,  chervil  and  sorrel. 

The  great  requisites  in  raising  plants  from  seeds,  are  a 
suitable  soil,  temperature,  air  and  moisture.  The  soil 
should  always  be  well  pulverized  and  brought  into  fine 
tilth,  to  enable  the  tender,  germinating  plants  to  penetrate 
it.  To  sow  seeds  in  heavy,  coarsely  broken  up  land,  and 
perhaps  water-soaked  at  that,  is  only  labor  thrown  away. 
The  temperature  of  the  soil  is  a  matter  of  great  importance, 
and  requires  much  discrimination,  as  our  vegetables  come 
from  various  climates,  some  tropical  and  others  extra- 
tropical  ;  so  that  a  temperature  that  suits  one  would  be 
death  to  the  other,  or  will  materially  delay  its  germina- 
tion. For  instance,  cresses  will  vegetate  in  twenty-four 
hours  in  a  soil  at  45  degrees.  Luna  beans  Trill  vegetate  in 
seven  days  when  the  thermometer  is  at  88  degrees,  but 
require  twenty  days  if  it  is  only  at  62  degrees.  Peas  will 
vegetate  in  eleven  days  if  the  temperature  is  74  degrees, 


42  SEEDS    AND    SEED    SOWING. 

but  will  require  nineteen  days  if  it  is  57  degrees,  and 
radishes  will  vary  from  six  to  twelve  days,  according  to 
the  temperature,  so  that  no  time  is  gained  by  sowing  too 
early  in  the  season.  When  seeds  are  sown  out-of-doors, 
particular  attention  should  be  given  so  to  prepare  the  soil 
as  that  it  may  become  sufficiently  heated  by  the  sun's  rays 
before  the  seed  is  sown.  Attention  to  this  point  will  fre- 
quently make  a  difference  of  eight  to  twelve  days  in  the 
time  of  germination. 

In  this  latitude,  the  following  seeds  may  be  sown  from 
the  middle  of  March  to  the  end  of  April  in  the  open  air, 
the  mean  of  the  thermometer  in  the  shade  being  45  degrees. 
Beets,  carrots,  cress,  celery,  cabbage,  cauliflower,  endive, 
kale,  kohl-rabi,  lettuce,  parsley,  parsnip,  onions,  leeks, 
peas,  radish,  turnip  and  spinach;  and  the  following  from 
the  middle  of  May  to  the  middle  of  June,  the  mean  of  the 
thermometer  being  60  degrees :  lima,  pole  and  bush 
beans,  sweet  corn,  cucumber,  musk  and  water-melons, 
okra,  pumpkin,  squash,  tomato  and  nasturtium. 

Moisture  is  a  point  that  also  requires  much  attention. 
If  the  soil  is  either  too  moist  or  too  dry,  the  seeds  will  not 
vegetate.  In  the  first  case  they  will  rot,  and  in  the  other 
case  they  will  either  shrivel  up  or  remain  dormant.  It  is 
difficult  to  explain  the  proper  medium— that  must  be  left  to 
experience  and  common  sense ;  but  as  a  suggestion,  we 
would  say  that  when  a  handful  of  the  soil  is  tightly  pressed 
together  in  the  hand,  and  just  adheres  together  without 
becoming  pasty  or  sticky,  it  is  in  a  proper  state. 

Seeds  will  not  vegetate  if  too  much  exposed  to  the  air, 
and  yet  they  must  not  be  wholly  excluded  from  it,  as  the 
oxygen  it  contains  is  necessary  to  produce  those  chemical 
changes  in  the  seed  which  result  in  germination.  Seeds 
should  therefore  always  be  rolled  after  being  sown,  or  the 


SEEDS   AltD    SEED    SOWING.  43 

soil  be  pressed  iu  close  contact  with  them,  by  laying  a 
board  over  the  drill,  if  the  seeds  are  small,  and  walking  on 
it,  or  if  they  are  large,  patting  the  soil  down  with  the  back 
of  the  spade,  or  pressing  it  down  over  them  with  the  foot. 
This  has  also  the  effect  of  excluding  the  light,  which  pre- 
vents or  retards  their  free  germination. 

The  depth  at  which  they  are  sown  has  also  much  to  do 
in  making  them  germinate.  This  is  greatly  controlled,  by 
the  character  of  the  soil.""  In  stiff,  clayey  soils  they  must 
not  be  sown  nearly  as  deep  as  they  may  be  in  a  light,  friable 
loam,  or  in  a  sandy  soil. 

The  depth  at  which  seeds  should  be  sown  is  a  matter 
for  which  there  is  no  fixed  rale.  The  old  rule  was,  to  cover 
them  their  own  thickness  with  soil;  but  that  is  not  sufficient 
for  many  seeds;  cabbage  seed  or  lettuce  seed,  for  instance, 
should  be  sown  three-eighths  or  half  an  inch  deep,  and 
peas  from  one  to  two  inches.  Experience  and  observation 
will  soon  instruct  any  one  in  this  matter. 

In  sowing  seeds  in  a  hot-bed,  great  care  must  be  had  to 
see  that  the  heat  of  the  bed  is  at  the  proper  temperature. 
If  the  soil  of  the  bed  is  too  hot,  the  seeds  will  burn  up. 
This  is  a  common  error  on  the  part  of  ignorant  or  injudi- 
cious gardeners,  who  never  fail  in  such  cases  to  accuse  the 
seedsman  of  selling  them  old  seed,  whilst  the  blame  for  the 
failure  rests  wholly  with  themselves. 

A  certain  amount  of  seed  is  necessary  to  produce  a  maxi- 
mum crop  j  in  order,  therefore,  to  convey  an  approximate 
idea  of  the  quantity  sufficient  to  yield  this  result,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  prevent  a  needless  waste  of  seed,  the  fol- 
lowing Table  is  given,  showing  about  the  length  of  drill  or 
the  number  of  hills  over  which  a  given  quantity  of  seed 
should  be  distributed,  or  the  number  of  plants  that  the 
seed  should  be  reasonably  expected  to  produce, 


44  SEEDS   AND    SUED    SOWING. 

Name  of  Plant.  Amount  of  Seed.  Average  Yield. 

Artichoke 1  oz GOO  plants. 

Asparagus 1  oz 1;000     " 

Beans,  English 1  qt 60  ft.  of  drill. 

"      Pole 1  qt 150  hills. 

"      Bush 1  qt 100  ft.  of  drill. 

Beet loz 60    « 

Borecole 1  oz 3,000  plants. 

Broccoli 1  oz 3,000      " 

Brussels  Sprouts 1  oz 3,000      " 

Cabbage * 1  oz 3,000      " 

Cardoon 1  oz 600      " 

Carrot 1  oz 150  ft.  of  drill. 

Cauliflower 1  oz 3,000  plants. 

Celery 1  oz 4,000      " 

Celeriac 1  oz 4,000      " 

Chervil 1  oz 100  ft.  of  drill. 

Chiccory 1  oz 3,000  plants. 

Colewort 1  oz 3,000      " 

Corn 1  qt 200  hills. 

Cress 1  oz 50  ft,  of  drill. 

Cucumber 1  oz 50  hills. 

Dandelion 1  oz  4,COO  plants. 

Egg  Plant 1  oz 2,000      " 

Endive 1  oz 3,000     " 

Fetticus 1  oz 100  ft.  of  drill. 

Garden  Patience 1  oz 600  plants. 

Kohl-Kabi 1  oz 3,000    " 

Leek 1  oz 1,500    " 

Lettuce 1  oz 3,000    " 

Martynia loz 500    " 

Melons 1  oz 60  hills. 

Mustard .  1  oz 50  ft.  of  drill. 

Nasturtium 1  oz  100  plants. 

Few  Zealand  Spinach loz 50      " 

Okra 1  oz 40  ft,  of  drill. 

Onion loz 100  "        " 

Onion  Sets 1  qt 20"        " 

Parsley I  oz  .  1?0  "        " 


PROTECTING     VEGETABLES.  45 

Name  of  Plant.  Amount  of  Seed.  Average  Yield. 

Parsnip 1  oz 200  ft.  of  drill. 

Peas Iqt 100   " 

Peppers 1  oz 2,000  plants. 

Potatoes 10  bush,  sets . .  1  acre. 

Pumpkin 1  oz 40  hills. 

Kadish 1  oz 100  ft.  of  drill. 

Khubarb 1  oz 500  plants. 

Kuta-Baga loz 200  ft.  of  drill.       /- 

Salsify loz 70  "        " 

Scolymus 1  oz 70  "        " 

Scorzonera 1  oz 70  "        " 

Sea-Kale loz  30  " 

Shallot Iqt 20  "        " 

Sorrel 1  oz GOO  plants. 

Spinach 1  oz 150  ft.  of  drill. 

Squash,  Bush 1  oz 50  hills. 

"       Kunning loz 16     " 

Sweet  Potato £  pk 12  bushels. 

Swiss  Chard 1  oz 50  ft.  of  drill. 

Tomato 1  oz 2,000  plants. 

"Water-Melon. .                . .  1  oz . .  30  hills. 


PROTECTING  VEGETABLES. 

When  cauliflowers,  tomatoes  and  other  tender  vegetables 
are  set  out  early  in  the  season,  it  is  frequently  necessary 
to  protect  them  not  only  from  cold  nights,  but  from  chilly, 
windy  days,  for  we  are  seldom  certain  of  really  settled, 
warm  weather,  until  the  last  week  of  May  or  beginning  of 
June;  and  although  there  may  not  be  any  frost,  yet  the 
chill  the  plants  get,  causes  them  to  become  stunted  and  re- 
tards their  growth. 

If  it  is  only  necessary  to  protect  them  when  first  set  out, 
to  prevent  them  wilting  or  to  guard  them  against  frost  at 
night,  an  inverted  flower-pot  will  answer  every  purpose; 
taking  it  ofi"  during  the  day  when  the  plants  have  recovered 
from  being  transplanted,  and  replacing  it  at  night,  or  keep- 


46  PROTECTING     VEGETABLES. 

ing  it  over  them  if  the  day  should  be  chilly  or  windy. 
When  it  is  necessary  not  only  to  protect  them  but  to  in- 
crease the  temperature,  they  may  be  protected  by  covering 
them  with  small  boxes  eight  or  ten  inches  square,  made 
higher  at  the  back  than  the  front,  like  a  small  cold  frame; 
and  a  pane  of  6x8  or  10x12  glass  let  in  the  top,  according 
to  the  size  of  the  frame.  The  frame  may  be  made  of  thin 
boards,  and  need  not  be  over  a  foot  high  at  the  back. 

The  following  is  a  very  simple  and  excellent  plan  for 
protecting  freshly  set  out  melons,  cucumbers,  squashes  and 
similar  plants  from  cool  winds,  and,  when  growing,  from 
the  attacks  of  bugs.  The  forkful  of  manure  usually  ap- 
plied to  each  hill  is  first  dug  into  the  soil.  A  seven-inch 
flower-pot  is  then  placed  upon  the  hill,  and  the  earth  drawn 
round  it  with  a  hoe  and  firmly  trodden  with  the  foot.  The 
flower-pot  is  then  withdrawn,  and  the  seeds  are  sown  or  the 
plant  set  out  in  the  bottom  of  the  cavity  thus  made.  Our 


engraving  fully  explains  how  this  is  done.  The  vine,  when 
sufficiently  grown,  runs  down  the  sides  of  the  mound,  whilst 
the  stem  and  roots  are  kept  cooler  and  more  moist  than 
when  surrounded  with  boxes  of  wood  or  similar  contri- 
vances. Plants  thus  set  out  can  also  be  readily  protected 
from  late  frosts  or  cold  rains  or  winds,  by  simply  placing  a 
pane  of  8x10  glass  or  a  piece  of  board  of  similar  size  over 
the  hole,  at  night  or  during  the  prevalence  of  the  injurious 
weather. 


PRESERVATION   OF    VEGETABLES.       47 

PRESERVATION  OF  VEGETABLES, 

In  our  directions  for  the  cultivation  of  vegetables,  we 
have  given  instructions  for  their  preservation  whenever  any 
special  mode  of  doing  so  was  deemed  necessary ;  we  shall 
therefore  here  only  give  general  directions  for  so  doing. 

All  root  crops,  such  as  beets,  carrots,  parsnips,  turnips, 
potatoes,  horseradish,  etc.,  are  better  preserved  in  out- 
door pits  than  in  cellars,  as  they  keep  more  plump  and 
succulent,  and  have  less  tendency  to  become  stringy  than 
when  kept  in  a  cellar.  Besides  this  it  is  more  healthful 
thus  to  keep  them  than  in  a  cellar,  for  unless  care  is  taken 
to  remove  any  that  may  decay,  they  are  liable  to  produce 
disease  among  those  living  in  the  house.  Only  so  many 
ought  to  be  thus  kept  as  will  supply  the  family  for  three 
or  four  weeks. 

In  a  dry,  sheltered  situation,  dig  out  a  series  of  shallow 
pits  a  foot  deep,  and  of  such  length  and  width  as  may  be 
necessary  for  the  bulk  of  each  vegetable  to  be  preserved. 
Into  each  pit  place  the  roots,  they  having  been  previously 
topped,  and  pile  them  up  in  a  rounding  manner.  On  them 
lay  three  or  four  inches  of  straw  or  leaves,  and  over  this 
place  a  layer  of  soil  eighteen  or  twenty  inches  deep,  beat- 
ing it  down  firmly  with  the  back  of  the  spade,  and  sloping 
it  off  nicely.  Cover  the  southerly  end  of  each  pit  with  a 
thick  layer  of  leaves,  straw  or  litter,  to  keep  the  soil  from 
freezing,  and  to  afford  ready  access  to  them  during  the 
hard  winter  weather.  If  there  is  any  danger  of  water 
lodging  in  the  pits,  drains  must  be  dug  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  readily  carry  it  off.  If  old  boards  or  fence  rails  can 
be  had,  a  pent  house  roof,  like  a  chicken  coop,  can  be  made 
over  each  pit,  and  the  earth  laid  on  it,  and  the  straw  or 
litter  be  omitted.  The  best  time  for  doing  this  is  tawards 
the  end  of  November  or  tho  first  of  December. 


48  SEED    RAISING. 

Cabbages  are  best  preserved  by  pulling  them  up  by  the 
roots,  and  placing  them  head  down  on  a  level  piece  of  dry 
ground,  and  then  throwing  six  or  seven  inches  of  earth 
over  them. 

A  portion  of  the  stalks  will  be  exposed,  but  this  is  of  no 
importance;  the  spaces  between  them  can  be  rilled  up  with 
leaves  or  litter,  which  will  facilitate  getting  them  out  when 
wanted. 

Cauliflowers  and  broccoli  that  have  not  perfected  their 
heads  in  the  autumn,  should  be  taken  up  and  planted  close 
together  right  up  to  the  leave?,  in  a  cold  frame,  and  pro- 
tected by  sashes  and  coverings.  They  will  then  perfect 
their  flower-heads.  Onions  are  best  preserved  by  laying 
them  on  the  floor  of  a  hay-loft  and  covering  them  with 
about  a  foot  or  eighteen  inches  of  hay  or  straw.  They  re- 
quire to  be  kept  dry  and  cool. 


SEED  RAISING. 

As  a  rule  it  is  not  best  for  an  amateur  gardener  to  raise 
seeds  for  his  own  use,  as  the  business  requires  much  skill 
and  knowledge,  and  is  best  conducted  by  those  who  make 
a  regular  business  of  it.  Even  seedsmen  rarely  grow  seeds 
for  their  own  sales,  but  purchase  them  from  growers,  many 
of  whom  make  specialties  of  different  kinds,  some  only 
growing  one  particular  sort  of  cabbage,  spinach,  lettuce, 
etc.,  and  others  only  growing  other  varieties  o£  the  same 
vegetable. 

The  reason  for  this  is  that  the  various  varieties  of  any 
one  vegetable  are  liable  to  mix  if  grown  in  proximity  to 
each  otte  •;  for  instance,  if  any  two  varieties  of  cabbage,  or 
of  beets,  or  of  lettuce,  or  of  melons,  ar3  grown  within  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  of  each  other,  their  pollen  will  be  liable 


SEED    RAISING.  49 

to  be  blown  by  the  wind,  or  carried  by  bees  or  other  insects 
from  one  plot  to  the  other,  and  produce  cross  fertilization, 
which  will  result  in  the  production  of  mongrels,  none  of 
which  are  likely  to  have  any  of  the  distinguishing  charac- 
teristics of  their  parents.  It  is,  therefore,  best  to  buy  what 
seeds  are  needed  from  seedsmen  of  well-established  reputa- 
tion, whose  knowledge  of  their  business,  and  of  the  growers, 
generally  enables  them  to  be  certain  of  their  purity.  Seeds- 
men, as  a  rule,  always  endeavor  to  get  the  best  they  can, 
and  often  pay  extraordinary  prices  for  them,  as  their 
gardener  customers  are  always  ready  to  pay  an  extra 
price  for  the  very  best,  for  it  is  a  matter  of  great  import- 
ance to  them,  especially  to  market  gardeners,  to  be  sure  to 
obtain  a  crop  to  pay  for  the  great  outlay  for  the  manure 
and  labor  necessary  in  their  cultivation. 

If  any  of  our  readers  should,  however,  desire  to  grow 
seeds  for  their  own  use,  they  should  observe  the  following 
rules: 

Never  to  grow  for  seed  any  two  varieties  of  any  given 
vegetable,  for  the  reasons  already  given. 

In  the  case  of  vegetables  desirable  for  their  earliness,  as 
tomatoes,  melons,  cucumbers,  etc.,  always  to  save  the 
fruits  first  ripe,  if  they  are  perfect  in  other  particulars. 

In  the  case  of  beets,  carrots  and  other  tap-rooted  or 
tuberous-rooted  vegetables,  always  select  the  best  formed 
and  the  best  colored  roots,  being  careful  to  so  dig  them  up 
as  not  to  destroy  or  injure  the  tips  of  the  roots,  and  always 
to  leave  an  inch  at  least  of  the  tops  on  the  roots,  for  if  cut 
down  close  to  the  crown,  they  will  be  injured  for  seed- 
growing  purposes.  The  largest  and  best  formed  potatoes 
should  always  be  saved  for  cutting  into  sets,  as  the  small 
ones,  which  are  too  often  saved  for  this  purpose,  are  the 
last  formed  in  the  ground,  and  are  not  as  well  ripened  as 


50  INSECTS   AND   INSECTICIDES. 

the  large  ones,  which  are  first  formed  and  have  had  a 
longer  season  in  which  to  perfect  themselves. 

All  the  annual  vegetables,  such  as  beans,  corn,  cucum- 
bers, egg  plants,  peppers,  tomatoes,  radishes,  peas,  melons, 
etc.,  produce  their  seeds  the  same  season  as  that  in  which 
they  are  planted. 

The  biennial  vegetables,  such  as  beets,  carrots,  celery, 
cabbage,  onions,  leeks,  parsley,  salsify,  scorzonera,  pars- 
nips, etc.,  produce  their  seeds  the  second  year  after  they 
are  planted,  and  are  raised  from  roots  or  plants  that  have 
been  wintered  over.  Set  them  out  as  early  in  the  spring  as 
the  weather  permits,  setting  them  the  same  distance  apart 
as  is  directed  for  growing  them. 


INSECTS  AND  INSECTICIDES. 

If  a  garden  is  kept  well  cultivated  by  having  the  soil 
frequently  stirred  by  the  hoe,  it  will  not  be  much  troubled 
by  insects,  as  many  of  them  go  into  the  ground  in  their 
pupa  state  to  winter  over.  The  continual  digging  for  the 
various  crops  as  they  succeed  each  other  also  destroys 
them.  Nevertheless,  there  are  some  which,  under  almost 
any  circumstances,  will  annoy  the  cultivator.  One  of  the 
most  troublesome  on  newly  turned  up  grass  land  is  the 
white  grub  with  a  black  head,  the  larva  of  the  June  bug, 
or  cockchafer.  This  grub  is  very  voracious,  and  eats  off 
young  cabbage  plants  and  others  almost  as  soon  as  they  are 
planted.  It  is  difficult  to  get  rid  of  them,  as  they  are  under- 
ground. Their  ravages  are  clone  at  night,  and  the  grub 
may  be  found  early  in  the  morning,  by  digging  for  them 
within  two  or  three  inches  of  the  plant  gnawed  off. 

Moles  are  particularly  destructive  to  these  grubs,  as  they 
feed  upon  them.  Here  we  would  say  a  word  in  favor  of 


INSECTS  AND   INSECTICIDES.  51 

the  mole,  who  is  popularly  but  ignorantly  accused  of  eating 
the  roots  of  vegetables.  On  the  contrary,  he  is  an  insecti  • 
vorous  or  carnivorous  animal,  and  does  not  live  on  vegeta- 
bles. He  burrows  through  the  ground  seeking  his  prey, 
and  is  one  of  the  best  friends  the  gardener  has.  The  only 
mischief  he  does  is  under-running  a  plant  now  and  then 
when  burrowing,  but  the  chances  are  ten  to  one  that  he 
has  caught  and  devoured  the  grub  that  was  eating  it  off, 
and  which,  had  he  not  done  so,  would  have  devoured  a 
dozen  more  plants. 

The  most  general  insects  in  a  vegetable  garden  are  the 
aphis,  or  plant  louse,  caterpillars  of  various  kinds,  some 
bugs,  slugs,  and  plant  fleas. 

The  aphis  are  readily  destroyed  by  dipping  the  shoots  of 
the  plants  in  a  strong  decoction  or  tea  made  from  tobacco 
stems.  The  smooth-skinned  caterpillars,  particularly  the 
species  which  infests  the  cabbage,  may  be  destroyed  by 
sprinkling  salt  upon  them.  Bugs  or  beetles  are  not  always 
destructive,  for  some  of  the  ground  beetles  live  upon  other 
insects ;  those  that  feed  upon  plants  are  generally  easily 
killed  by  sprinkling  the  plants  with  a  solution  of  whale  oil 
soap.  Some  of  them,  such  as  the  squash  bug,  can  be 
kept  from  the  plants  by  enclosing  them  with  old  cheese 
boxes  or  similar  arrangements.  The  insect  cannot  fly  but 
an  inch  or  two  from  the  ground,  and  when  the  plant 
is  thus  defended  cannot  get  at  it.  Fleas,  such  as  the  tur- 
nip fly  or  flea,  can  be  kept  in  check  by  dusting  the  soil 
with  lime,  repeating  it  every  day  or  two,  until  the  plants 
are  well  up.  For  the  Colorado  bug,  which  of  late  years 
has  been  so  destructive  to  the  potato,  nothing  is  better  to 
destroy  it  than  Paris  green.  This  should  be  mixed  with 
plenty  of  water,  kept  stirred,  and  sprinkled  on  the  plants 
with  a  whisk  broom  or  some  similar  article. 


52  INSECTS   AND    INSECTICIDES. 

Tobacco  water,  tobacco  dust,  soot,  lime,  hellebore  pow- 
der, dry  guano,  flour  of  sulphur,  whale  oil  soap,  and  solu- 
tions of  saltpetre  or  salt  are  all  insecticides.  They  must 
be  cautiously  used ;  their  strength  being  graduated  when 
used  in  solution,  according  to  the  plant,  and  the  insects  to 
be  destroyed.  This  is  best  ascertained  by  actual  experi- 
ment. 

Insectivorous  birds,  lady  bugs  and  toads  are  great  de- 
vourers  of  insects,  and  should  always  be  encouraged  in  a 
garden.  The  birds  not  only  devour  the  living  insects,  but 
also  devour  the  insect  eggs,  of  which  they  are  very  fond. 
Lady  bugs  live  upon  the  plant  lice,  and  toads  live  upon 
small  winged  insects,  of  which  they  catch,  large  numbers. 


CULTIVATION   Of    VEGETABLES.         53 


CULTIVATION  OF  VEGETABLES. 


The  preceding  pages  are  devoted  solely  to  the  most 
practical  and  economical  methods  of  preparing  a  garden 
for  the  reception  and  culture  of  vegetables,  etc.,  with  such 
general  remarks  on  the  tillage  of  the  soil,  the  rotation  of 
crops,  and  other  matters  connected  with  the  subject,  as 
will  ensure  the  most  favorable  results. 

The  present  portion  of  the  work  will  afford  thorough  in- 
formation as  to  the  most  approved  manner  of  sowing, 
planting  and  cultivating  all  the  plants  that  find  a  place  in 
a  vegetable  garden. 

Each  will  be  treated  separately,  and  the  whole  is  ar- 
ranged in  alphabetical  order  for  handy  reference.  There 
is  also  introduced,  at  the  end  of  the  book,  a  monthly 
Keminder,  or  general  summary  of  the  planting  and  other 
work  which  is  appropriate  or  necessary  during  each  month. 


ARTICHOKE. 

Artichoke  plants  can  be  raised  either  from  seeds,  from 
suckers,  or  from  offshoots  of  old  plants.  The  seed  should 
be  sown  toward  the  end  of  March  or  during  April,  in  any 
light,  moist  earth,  not  liable  to  bake,  nor  yet  very  sandy. 
The  seed  drills  should  be  about  an  inch  deep  and  twelve 
inches  apart.  A  bed  will  last  three  or  four  years,  and  one 
ounce  of  seed  should  produce  about  six  hundred  plants. 
The  Green  Globe  is  the  best  (because  the  hardiest)  variety 
for  our  climate.  When  the  plants  are  about  nine  or  ten 
inches  high  they  should  be  transplanted  into  the  bed  in 
which  they  are  to  be  permanently  growp,  taking  ad  van- 


54  ARTICHOKE. 

tage  of  cloudy  or  wet  weather  for  this  operation.  As  the 
roots  penetrate  to  a  great  depth  and  the  plants  require 
very  rich  soil,  the  bed  should  be  heavily  mauured,  well 
and  deeply  spaded,  and  the  soil  well  pulverized.  A  good 
dressing  of  salt,  as  for  asparagus,  is  also  useful — for  the 
artichoke  likes  a  saline  soil — and  a  top  dressing  of  it  may 
also  be  given  every  year  or  two. 

After  being  carefully  taken  up,  the  plants  may  be  set 
with  a  dibble,  in  rows  four  or  five  feet  apart  and  two  feet 
from  plant  to  plant  on  the  row;  being  careful  not  to  insert 
the  heart  of  the  leaves  below  the  surface  of  the  soil.  If  the 
weather  is  dry  at  the  time  of  planting,  or  should  be  dry  be- 
fore the  plants  get  well  established,  liberal  watering  should 
be  given.  In  a  bed  composed  of  seedlings  there  will  often 
be  found  a  great  difference  in  the  size  of  the  flower  buds  or 
heads— the  part  used.  It  is  therefore  best  to  mark  those 
which  produce  the  largest  and  most  succulent  flower  heads, 
and  from  these  take  the  suckers  for  planting  a  new  bed. 
These  should  be  taken  off  in  May,  when  they  are  five  or 
six  inches  high,  and  planted  in  a  permanent  bed  prepared 
as  above  directed. 

The  after  culture  consists  in  keeping  the  bed  clear  of 
weeds  and  every  season  spading  in  some  manure  in  order 
to  produce  healthy,  vigorous  plants,  with  strong  flower 
stalks  and  blooms.  Unless  wanted  for  the  purpose  of 
making  a  new  bed  in  the  spring,  all  the  suckers,  with  the 
exception  of  two  or  three,  should  be  taken  off  the  parent 
plant,  in  order  to  strengthen  it.  The  object  to  be  attained 
is  large  flower  heads— hence  the  whole  culture  must  be 
such  as  will  produce  a  strong  growth  of  the  plants,  giving 
them  plenty  of  room  to  develop  their  foliage  and  sustaining 
the  plants  with  liberal  supplies  of  manure.  If  the  flower 
stems  show  more  than  three  or  four  flower  buds,  all  in 


ASPARAGUS.  55 

excess  of  that  number  should  be  removed.  In  winter, 
when  the  frost  sets  in,  the  plants  should  each  receive  a 
covering  five  or  six  inches  thick,  of  leaves,  sea-weed,  or 
long  manure,  to  protect  them  from  frost.  If  there  is  any 
probability  of  water  lodging  on  the  bed  during  winter, 
then  drains  of  a  foot  or  more  in  depth  should  be  dug  about 
two  feet  from  the  rows,  so  as  to  carry  off  the  water,  for,  by 
lodging  on  the  plants,  it  will  cause  the  crowns  to  rot. 

When  grown  for  chard  the  leaves  and  flower  stalks 
should  be  cut  off  in  Juno  or  early  in  July,  within  six  inches 
of  the  ground.  In  September  or  October,  when  the  new 
leaves  are  about  two  feet  long,  they  should  be  somewhat 
loosely  tied  together  and  wound  with  hay  or  straw  bands 
to  blanch  them,  adding  some  litter  at  the  bottom  to  assist 
the  process ;  or  they  may  be  earthed  up  in  the  same  way  as 
celery.  In  about  six  weeks  they  will  be  ready  for  use. 
This  blanching  process  should  only  be  done  with  old  beds 
about  to  be  broken  up,  as  it  destroys  the  plants  for  bloom- 
ing. When  it  is  intended  to  use  the  heads  for  pickling 
they  should  be  cut  when  about  two  inches  in  diameter. 
When  they  are  to  be  used  as  salad,  cut  them  when  they 
have  nearly  attained  their  full  size,  but  before  the  scales 
of  the  calyx  begin  to  open  or  spread.  When  the  recepta- 
cles or  bottoms  are  to  be  used  for  stewing  or  frying,  the 
heads  should  be  cut  just  as  the  scales  begin  to  spread  or 
open.  If  they  are  allowed  to  remain  until  the  flower 
proper  begins  to  show  itself,  they  become  unfit  for  use. 


ASPARAGUS. 

This  plant  will  succeed  in  any  rich,  deep,  dry  and  porous 
soil,  through  which  water  can  readily  drain  away  j  but  it 
does  not  succeed  well  in  heavy,  close  soils  deficient  in  under 


56  ASP  AS  AG-  US. 

drainage ;  but  if  this  latter  requisite  is  provided,  almost 
any  soil  can  be  so  prepared  as  to  produce  fair  crops  of  it. 

Asparagus  plants  are  raised  by  sowing  the  seeds  in  the 
month  of  September  if  autumn  sown,  or  in  the  month  of 
April  if  spring  sown.  The  seed  bed  should  be  composed 
of  good,  rich  soil,  well  pulverized  and  manured  with  well- 
rotted  manure.  The  seed,  of  which  an  ounce  will  produce 
about  a  thousand  plants,  or  be  sufficient  for  fifty  or  sixty 
feet  of  drill,  should  be  thinly  sown  in  drills  twelve  inches 
apart  and  an  inch  in  depth.  After  the  plants  come  up, 
the  bed  should  be  kept  thoroughly  clear  of  weeds  by 
repeated  hoeings.  The  plants,  if  well  cared  for,  will  be 
large  enough  to  plant  out  in  permanent  beds  when  a  year 
old,  but  some  cultivators  prefer  to  let  them  remain  until 
they  are  two  years  old.  Ordinarily  it  is  a  saving  of  time 
to  purchase  the  roots  from  a  nurseryman  or  seedsman,  as 
one  or  two  years'  time  can  be  gained  by  so  doing. 

As  asparagus  beds,  if  properly  prepared  and  attended 
to,  will  yield  good  shoots  for  twenty  years,  it  is  poor  policy 
to  neglect  the  proper  preparation  of  the  bed,  or  stint  the 
supply  of  fertilizing  material.  They  may  be  prepared  and 
planted  either  in  the  autumn  or  in  the  spring  as  soon  as 
the  ground  is  in  good  working  order,  up  to  the  middle  or 
end  of  April.  The  ground  should  be  trenched  two  spades 
deep,  and  each  spade  of  depth  should  have  three  or  four 
inches  deep  of  well-rotted  manure  dug  into  the  soil,  mixing 
it  thoroughly.  Coarse  bone-dust  or  crushed  bone  is  also 
an  excellent  fertilizer  for  this  plant. 

It  is  usual  to  plant  the  roots  in  beds  each  five  feet  wide, 
and  containing  three  rows  of  plants  one  foot  apart  and  a 
foot  between  either  of  the  outer  rows  and  the  edge  of  the 
bed,  and  then  allowing  two  or  two  and  a  half  feet  alley- 
way between  the  beds;  but  this  is  by  no  means  absolutely 


ASPAHAGU&.  57 

necessary,  as  the  beds  can  be  made  of  any  desired  width, 
and  we  think  it  is  better  to  give  greater  space  between 
the  rows  than  is  usually  done— say  fifteen  to  eighteen 
inches  apart— in  order  to  allow  free  access  of  light  and  air, 
for  it  is  the  strong,  healthy  growth  of  the  plant  during  the 
present  season,  that  produces  a  crop  of  large,  succulent 
shoots  the  ensuing  spring  and  summer. 

Another  mode  is  to  plant  them  in  long  rows  three  feet 
apart,  with  the  plants  set  fifteen  to  eighteen  inches  apart 
on  the  row ;  preparing  the  soil  with  the  plow  and  sub- 
soiler,  working  in  plenty  of  manure  into  the  trenches. 
This  is  the  mode  adopted  for  field  culture,  and  where  the 
garden  space  admits  of  it,  and  the  beds  are  cultivated  by 
horse  hoes,  it  is  the  preferable  mode  if  large  quantities  of 
shoots  are  required. 

In  planting  the  roots  after  the  beds  are  prepared, 
stretch  a  line  the  length  of  the  row,  open  a  trench  six  or 
eight  inches  deep,  somewhat  sloping  on  the  side  next  to 
the  line,  against  this  side  lay  the  plants  with  the  crowns 
about  six  or  seven  inches  from  the  surface  of  the  bed, 
spreading  out  the  roots  fanwise,  and  as  you  proceed  throw- 
ing in  the  excavated  earth  against  them,  and  pressing  it 
down  firmly  with  the  foot.  When  planted  in  rows  a  foot 
apart  the  plants  will  get  more  air  and  light  by  being 
planted  in  quincunx. 

The  after  cultivation  of  the  beds  consists  in  keeping 
them  scrupulously  clear  of  weeds;  every  spring  give  them 
a  top  dressing  of  rotted  manure,  superphosphate  of  lime 
or  guano.  In  the  interior  of  the  country,  away  from  the 
influence  of  the  sea  air,  a  top  dressing  of  salt  is  beneficial, 
applied  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  pounds  to  sixty 
square  yards.  A  liberal  application  of  liquid  manure  may 
also  be  used  to  great  advantage.  A  spading  fork  is  pre- 


o8  E  y  U  L  flS  H    BROAD    BEANS. 

ferable  to  a  spade  in  turning  in  the  manure,  as  it  is  less 
'liable  to  cut  or  injure  the  roots,  but  even  this  should  not 
bo  inserted  more  than  five  or  six  inches  deep.  In  sections 
of  the  country  where  the  winters  are  severe,  or  there  is 
but  little  snow,  it  is  prudent  to  protect  the  beds  by  a 
covering  of  leaves,  sea-weed,  or  long  manure,  three  or  four 
inches  thick,  removing  it  early  in  the  spring. 

The  shoots  should  not  be  cut  before  the  third  year  after 
planting,  and  then  but  sparingly ;  after  that  the  yield  will 
be  abundant.  In  the  Middle  States  the  cutting  should 
cease  about  the  10th  of  June,  but  in  the  Eastern  and 
Northern  States  it  may  be  continued  until  the  25th  of  that 
month.  All  the  shoots  that  form  seed  berries  should  be 
cut  out  as  soon  as  the  berries  are  formed,  or  the  berries 
stripped  off,  as  the  seed  bearing  is  very  exhaustive  to  the 
plant,  and  causes  the  roots  to  send  up  weak  shoots  the 
next  season. 

A  bed  containing  about  thirty  square  yards  will  supply 
from  twenty-five  to  thirty  shoots  a  day. 

All  of  the  so-called  varieties  of  asparagus  appear  to  be 
but  one,  except,  perhaps,  the  variety  known  as  Conovefs 
Colossal.  Good  cultivation  produces  all  the  distinction 
that  there  is  between  them. 


ENGLISH  BROAD  BEANS. 

This  class  of  beans  is  largely  grown  in  England  and 
Scotland,  but  in  this  country  it  does  not  succeed  so  well, 
on  account  of  the  excessive  heat.  If,  however,  they  are 
sown  very  early  in  the  open  ground,  or  started  in  pots  or 
boxes  in  a  frame  or  cellar  and  transplanted,  a  good  crop 
may  bo  had  in  June.  They  require  a  cool,  humid  climate, 
and  strong,  moist  soil  moderately  enriched  ;  if  the  soil  is 


ENGLISH   BROAD    BEANS.  59 

light,  it  should  be  manured  freely  with  cow  manure.  Out- 
door sowing  should  be  done  as  soon  in  the  spring  as  the 
ground  is  in  working  order. 

They  should  be  sown  in  drills  about  two  inches  deep, 
but  varying  as  to  the  distance  of  the  rows  and  the  plants 
on  the  row,  according  to  the  variety.  When  they  are 
three  or  four  inches  high  they  should  be  carefully  hoed, 
and  as  they  progress  should  be  earthed  up  once  or  twice 
during  their  growth.  When  the  young  pods  form  on  the 
lower  part  of  the  stem,  the  top  shoots  should  be  pinched 
off;  otherwise  the  plant  will  go  on  growing  and  flowering, 
to  the  injury  and  retardation  of  the  crop.  They  may  be 
greatly  forwarded  by  starting  them  in  a  moderate  hot-bed 
in  February,  and  transplanting  them  out-of-doors  about 
the  20th  of  March,  or  from  that  time  until  the  first  of  April, 
according  to  the  weather.  The  transplanting  should  be 
carefully  done  with  a  trowel,  so  as  not  to  check  their 
growth. 

Another  mode  is  to  cover  a  small  piece  of  ground  in  the 
autumn  with  a  sufficient  thickness  of  manure  or  leaves  to 
keep  out  the  frost,  removing  the  covering  in  February,  and 
then  placing  a  frame  and  sashes  over  the  soil  and  sowing 
the  seeds  in  it.  The  frame  must  be  protected  from  frost 
by  suitable  coverings  to  the  sashes,  and  banking  up  the 
framo  with  earth  or  manure.  The  seeds  may  also  be  sown 
in  February  hi  pots  or  boxes  in  a  light,  warm  cellar,  keep- 
ing them  close  to  the  windows.  The  plants  raised  by 
either  of  these  modes  are  to  be  transplanted  as  already 
directed.  The  pods  should  be  gathered  for  use  when  the 
beans  are  half  grown,  as  they  are  then  delicate  in  fla- 
vor, while  if  allowed  to  grow  larger  they  become  coarse 
flavored,  flatulent  and  indigestible. 

Many  varieties  are  grown  abroad,  but  for  our  climate 


60  BUSH    BEANS. 

the  three  following  are  the  best:  Marshall's  Early  Dtvarf 
Prolific,  which  grows  from  eighteen  inches  to  two  feet 
high,  branching  out  very  freely  at  the  bottom,  and  is  very 
productive  (the  rows  should  be  two  and  a  half  to  three 
feet  apart,  with  the  plants  four  to  six  inches  apart  on  the 
row) ;  the  Royal  Dwarf  Cluster,  which  grows  only  ten  to 
fifteen  inches  high,  is  very  productive  and  branches  con- 
siderably (the  rows  should  be  eighteen  to  twenty  inches 
apart,  and  the  plants  ten  to  twelve  inches  apart  on  the 
row);  and  the  Long  Pod,  which  grows  from  three  to  four 
feet  high,  is  non-branching  and  very  productive,  but  later 
than  the  first  two  varieties  named.  The  rows  of  Long  Pod 
should  be  three  to  four  feet  apart,  and  the  plants  four  to 
six  inches  apart  on  the  row. 


BUSH  BEANS. 

These  will  grow  in  any  good  garden  soil  moderately 
enriched;  if  too  highly  manured  it  will  cause  them  to  run 
to  tops  too  much.  The  proper  time  for  sowing  them  is 
from  any  period  after  the  10th  of  May  until  the  beginning 
of  August.  It  is  better  to  sow  them  in  drills  than  in  hills ; 
the  drills  should  be  about  two  inches  deep,  and  from  two 
to  three  feet  apart,  according  to  the  sort.  The  beans  should 
be  dropped  from  two  to  three  inches  apart  on  the  row. 
As  they  progress  in  growth,  hoe  them  carefully,  and  draw 
up  some  earth  to  the  stems. 

The  varieties  are  very  numerous,  but  for  ordinary  culti- 
vation the  following  three  sorts  will  be  quite  sufficient : 

Early  Valentine;  is  early,  tender  and  productive,  gen- 
erally being  fit  for  use  six  weeks  after  sowing.  It  con- 
tinues much  longer  in  a  green  state  than  most  other  varie- 
ties. 


POLE    BEANS.  61 

Newingion  Wonder;  is  a  very  dwarf  growing  variety 
and  wonderfully  productive.  The  pods  are  very  tender. 
It  is  an  excellent  succession  sort.  The  drills  for  this  sort 
may  be  two  feet  apart. 

Refugee;  is  a  very  productive,  but  not  an  early  sort; 
the  pods  are  tender,  of  good  flavor,  and  much  used  for 
pickling.  It  withstands  the  late  heats  of  summer  better 
than  most  other  sorts. 


POLE  BEANS. 

There  are  two  classes  of  these  beans — those  which  are 
used  as  string  beans  and  those  which  are  used  as  shelled 
beans.  The  former  are  scarcely  worth  the  trouble  of  grow- 
ing, as  their  place  is  well  supplied  by  the  dwarf  string 
beans,  which  are  much  easier  grown. 

They  require  a  light,  somewhat  sandy  soil,  which  must 
be  well  enriched  with  manure  in  the  hills  in  which  they 
are  grown.  The  seeds  should  be  sown  about  two  inches 
deep  in  hills  three  to  four  feet  apart,  with  a  stake  or  pole 
eight  or  nine  feet  high  set  in  the  centre  of  the  hill  at  the 
time  of  planting.  The  planting  should  not  be  done  before 
the  15th  of  May  and  may  be  continued  until  the  end  of 
June.  If  planted  too  early  they  will  rot  in  the  ground. 
Five  or  six  beans  should  be  sown  in  each  hill,  and  when 
they  have  attained  their  second  leaf,  all  but  three  or  four 
should  be  pulled  up.  The  after  cultivation  consists  in  one 
or  two  hillings  up  and  keeping  them  clear  of  weeds. 
Nipping  off  the  ends  of  the  shoots  after  they  have  reached 
the  top  of  the  poles  has  a  tendency  to  make  the  plants 
more  fruitful. 

If  it  is  desired  to  have  them  earlier  than  they  would  pro- 


62  BEET. 

duce  in  the  open  air,  plants  can  be  raised  from  beans  sown 
one  each  in  a  half  pint  pot  in  April  and  kept  in  a  cold 
frame ;  these  will  be  ready  for  transplanting  by  the  end  of 
May,  and  will  come  in  ten  days  or  two  weeks  sooner  than 
those  sown  in  the  open  air. 

Of  those  used  as  string  beans  the  London  Horticultural 
is  the  best,  as  it  can  also  be  used  as  a  shelled  bean,  and  is 
excellent  when  dried  or  ripe. 

Of  the  shelled  class  none  equals  the  Lima  and  its  variety, 
the  Sieva.  The  latter  is  somewhat  hardier  and  is  several 
days  earlier  than  the  first,  but  is  not  so  large. 


BEET. 

Beets  require  a  rich,  deep,  well-pulverized  soil;  but  it  is 
not  necessary  to  manure  the  soil  for  the  present  crop  if  it 
has  been  well  manured  for  previous  crops  of  other  vege- 
tables. Coarse  manure  produces  misshapen,  ill-flavored 
roots.  A  top  dressing  of  salt  or  guano,  bone  dust,  super- 
phosphate or  wood  ashes,  is  beneficial,  even  if  the  soil  is 
rich. 

For  an  early  crop  the  turnip-rooted  varieties  are  the  most 
suitable.  They  can  be  sown  as  early  as  the  first  week  of 
April  in  a  sheltered  border.  The  drills  should  be  a  foot 
apart  and  one  to  two  inches  in  depth;  the  seeds  being 
dropped  along  the  row  about  two  inches  apart,  then 
covered  in  with  a  rake,  and  rolled  or  else  pressed  down  by 
laying  a  board  over  the  drill  and  walking  on  it,  to  set  the 
earth  firmly  about  the  seeds.  For  succession  crops,  sow 
every  two  weeks,  from  the  first  of  April  until  the  first  of 
June.  The  crop  will  be  more  tender  and  delicate  when 
thus  sown  in  succession,  as  those  first  sown  become  harder 
and  not  so  well  flavored  as  the  hot  weather  approaches. 


BEET.  63 

When  the  plants  are  three  or  four  inches  high,  they  should 
be  thinned  out  to  six  inches  apart.  As  each  capsule  con- 
tains five  or  six  seeds,  as  many  plants  will  come  up  from 
each,  thus  making  several  plants  have  the  appearance  of 
one.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  carefully  thin  out  each 
little  group  to  one  plant,  as  otherwise  they  will  interfere 
with  and  choke  each  other.  This  thinning  out  should  be 
done  when  the  plants  are  quite  young.  If  any  vacancies 
occur  in  the  bed,  dibble  in  some  of  the  plants  drawn  out, 
being  careful  not  to  break  the  tips  of  the  roots.  During 
their  growth  they  require  to  be  frequently  hoed  and  to  be 
kept  clear  of  weeds. 

The  general  crop  of  long-rooted  varieties  should  be  sown 
about  the  end  of  May,  or  during  June,  as  the  plants  will 
then  have  a  free,  unchecked  growth,  which  prevents  the 
roots  becoming  tough  or  stringy  through  being  stunted. 
Even  if  sown  as  late  as  the  first  week  in  July,  they  will  fre- 
quently produce  good  roots  in  the  autumn.  The  rows 
should  be  from  eighteen  inches  to  two  feet  apart,  and  the 
plants  eight  or  ten  inches  apart  on  the  row.  The  after 
culture  consists  in  keeping  them  well  hoed  and  free  from 
weeds. 

A  dozen  or  more  varieties  may  be  found  in  the  seed 
catalogues,  but  the  following  three,  all  things  considered, 
are  the  best : 

Egyptian  Turnip-rooted ;  this  is  the  earliest  variety;  it 
has  small  upright  leaves  j  the  roots  are  of  a  deep  crimson 
color,  and  well  flavored. 

Early  Short  Top  Round;  is  an  improvement  on  the 
Early  Blood  Turnip-rooted;  it  is  shorter  in  the  leaves, 
more  free  from  rootlets,  and  flatter  in  shape. 

Long  Smooth  Blood;  is  earlier  than  the  common  blood, 
is  not  so  strong  a  grower,  and  more  free  from  rootlets. 


64  BROCCOLI. 

BOEECOLE  OR,  KALE. 

Of  this  vegetable  there  are  two  classes— one  grown  for 
spring  use,  and  the  other  for  autumn  and  winter  use. 

The  first;  known  as  dwarf  German  greens,  and  in  our 
markets  as  sprouts,  should  be  sown  somewhat  thinly  in 
drills  half  an  inch  deep  and  a  foot  apart,  in  the  month  of 
September ;  the  beds  in  which  it  remains  receiving  the 
same  treatment  as  spinach.  It  requires  a  good  rich,  light 
soil,  well  drained,  for  if  water  lodges  on  the  beds  it  will 
rot. 

Those  for  autumn  use  should  be  sown  in  seed  beds  from 
the  middle  of  April  to  the  middle  of  May,  and  transplanted 
into  the  permanent  bed  in  June  or  July.  They  also  re- 
quire a  good  rich  soil,  their  cultivation  in  ah1  respects 
being  the  same  as  that  of  cabbage.  They  are  very  hardy, 
and  are  better  flavored  when  touched  by  frost  than  other- 
wise. 

The  best  two  varieties  for  winter  use  are  the  Divarf 
Green  Curled  and  the  Purple  Leaved.  The  first  seldom 
grows  more  than  eighteen  inches  high,  and  the  plants 
may  be  set  that  distance  apart.  The  last  grows  about 
thirty  inches  high,  and  should  be  planted  two  feet  apart 
on  the  rows. 


BROCCOLI. 

This  vegetable  is  so  similar  to,  and  so  closely  allied  to  the 
cauliflower,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  those  not  having 
a  botanical  education  to  see  wherein  the  difference  consists, 
yet  from  certain  botanical  distinctions  they  may  be  dis- 
tinguished one  from  the  other.  The  broccoli  is  generally 
supposed  to  have  been  derived  from  the  tall  curled  kale, 


BROCCOLI.  65 

and  originated  in  the  northern  part  of  Europe,  whilst  the 
cauliflower  is  supposed  to  have  been  derived  from  what  is 
known  as  the  Couve  Tronchuda,  or  Portugal  Cabbagej  and 
to  have  originated  hi  the  south  of  Europe ;  tradition  says 
in  the  Isle  of  Cyprus.  The  broccoli  is  much  the  hardier 
of  the  two,  and  is  best  for  an  autumn  crop  in  this  country. 

Broccoli  requires  a  very  rich  soil,  its  general  treatment 
being  the  same  as  cabbage.  A  top  dressing  of  lime  and 
salt,  or  a  mulching  of  sea-weed,  is  very  useful  to  them.  The 
seed  should  be  sown  in  a  seed  bed  in  the  open  air  about 
the  middle  of  May,  rather  sparingly  in  drills  half  an  inch 
deep,  and  from  four  to  six  inches  apart.  A  quarter  of  an 
ounce  of  seed  will  sow  a  piece  of  ground  four  by  four  feet, 
and  produce  about  a  thousand  plants. 

The  plants  will  be  of  proper  size  to  transplant  by  the 
beginning  of  July,  when  they  should  be  set  out  in  a  per- 
manent bed,  giving  them  a  good  watering  after  they  have 
been  transplanted.  The  proper  distance  to  set  them  is  in 
rows  two  and  a  half  feet  apart,  and  the  plants  two  feet 
apart  on  the  rows.  After  they  have  well  taken  root,  they 
should  have  a  good  deep  hoeing,  and  this  should  be  re- 
peated two  or  three  times,  as  they  progress  in  growth, 
drawing  up  some  earth  to  the  stems  at  each  hoeing. 

Every  care  should  be  had  not  to  allow  the  plants  to  be- 
come stunted  by  the  extreme  heat  or  drought  of  the  sum- 
mer; to  produce  good  flower  heads,  they  require  to  be 
kept  in  a  growing,  flourishing  condition  until  the  com- 
mencement of  cool,  moist  autumn  weather.  Frequent 
waterings  may  therefore  be  necessary,  should  the  summer 
be  hot  or  dry ;  occasional  waterings  with  manure  water 
will  be  very  beneficial  under  any  circumstances. 

Under  almost  any  circumstances  it  will  be  found  that 
some  of  the  plauts  will  not  flower  before  frost  sets  in. 


66  BRUSSELS    SPKOUTS. 

Such  plants  should  be  carefully  lifted  and  planted  up  to 
their  leaves,  just  close  enough  together  to  touch  each  other, 
in  a  frame  two  boards  high,  banked  up  with  earth,  man- 
ure or  leaves,  covered  with  sashes,  protecting  them  from 
the  frost  at  night  or  on  cold  days  with  suitable  coverings 
of  straw  or  hay,  giving  air  in  the  middle  of  the  day  on 
fine,  sunny  days.  If  there  is  an  overplus  of  heads,  they 
may  be  saved  by  lifting  the  plants  and  planting  them  in 
boxes  filled  with  earth,  and  placed  in  a  light,  dry  cellar. 

Out  of  more  than  a  hundred  varieties  known  in  England, 
the  following  three  varieties  will  be  found  the  most  satis- 
factory to  the  amateur  grower  in  this  country.  Purple 
Cape,  a  very  hardy,  sure  heading  variety,  with  purple 
flower  heads ;  the  color  disappears  in  cooking,  and  it  does 
not  differ  from  the  white  variety  in  flavor.  Early  Walch- 
eren,  by  some  considered  a  cauliflower,  has  white  flower 
heads,  and  is  much  earlier  than  the  other  varieties.  It  is 
the  leading  variety  among  market  gardeners. 

Knight's  Protecting ;  is  a  very  hardy  white  flowered 
variety,  of  dwarf,  compact  growth ;  the  plants  may  there- 
fore be  set  eighteen  inches  apart  in  the  row.  It  is  not  an 
early  variety,  but  is  excellent  for  planting  in  frames,  as  it 
will  continue  heading  until  January, 


BRUSSELS  SPROUTS. 

This  delicious  vegetable  belongs  to  the  cabbage  family 
and  in  its  general  appearance  resembles  a  tall  kale  or 
borecole.  It  grows  three  or  four  feet  high,  producing  on 
the  stem  numerous  miniature  cabbage  heads,  varying  from 
one  to  two  inches  in  diameter,  which  are  very  tender  and 
delicately  flavored,  especially  when  slightly  touched  by 
frost. 


CABBAGE.  67 

The  seed  should  be  sown  about  the  middle  of  May  in  a 
prepared  bed,  and  in  July  the  plants  should  be  trans- 
planted two  feet  each  way  in  the  permanent  bed,  or  the 
seeds  may  be  sown  in  a  hot-bed  in  March  or  April,  and 
the  plants  transplanted  when  three  or  four  inches  high, 
which  will  bring  them  into  use  a  month  or  six  weeks 
earlier  than  when  sown  in  May.  The  after  culture  is  the 
same  as  that  of  cabbages. 

If  the  later  planted  plants  should  not  head,  they  should 
be  taken  up  before  severe  freezing  weather  sets  in,  and 
planted  in  a  cellar,  when  they  will  afford  a  succession  of 
heads  during  the  winter. 

The  tall  or  giant  variety  is  the  hardiest,  and  produces 
the  largest  number  of  heads.  As  this  vegetable  is  apt  to 
revert  back  to  its  original  type,  and  not  to  produce  its 
small  heads  unless  great  care  is  used  in  saving  the  seed,  it 
should  only  be  purchased  from  seedsmen  of  known  respect- 
ability. 


CABBAGE, 

Cabbage  requires  a  deep,  fresh,  loamy  soil,  and  does  not 
succeed  well  in  land  that  has  been  long  under  cultivation, 
or  that  is  very  dry  and  sandy. 

The  soil  in  which  it  is  grown  should  be  liberally  manured, 
especially  for  the  early  varieties,  with  good  barn-yard 
manure,  and  as  it  likes  a  limestone  and  saline  soil,  an  ad- 
dition of  fine  ground  bone,  and  a  top  dressing  of  salt,  will 
be  found  advantageous,  or  manure  prepared  with  the  lime 
and  salt  mixture  as  directed  in  the  chapter  on  Manures. 
Wood  ashes  are  also  useful. 

There  are  two  or  three  ways  of  raising  the  early  sorts. 
The  first  mode  is  to  sow  the  seeds  in  an  open-air  prepared 


63  CABBAGE. 

bed,  from  the  10th  to  the  25th  of  September,  and,  when  the 
plants  are  five  or  six  weeks  old,  pricking  them  out  into  a 
cold  frame  three  to  six  inches  apart  each  way,  inserting 
the  plant  down  to  the  first  leaf,  and  then  protecting  them 
during  the  winter  by  sashes  and  straw  or  litter  coverings, 
giving  them  plenty  of  air  on  bright,  sunny  days.  Plants 
thus  raised  make  very  hardy,  stocky  plants  for  spring 
planting. 

Another  mode  is  in  the  fall  to  set  a  frame  in  a  warm, 
sheltered  situation,  and  filling  it  up  with  leaves,  and  then 
covering  it  with  sashes  or  boards,  and  over  them  straw 
or  leaves,  to  prevent  the  frost  from  getting  down  to  the  soil. 
About  the  latter  end  of  January  or  beginning  of  February 
the  leaves  may  be  thrown  out,  the  soil  nicely  dug,  and  the 
seed  sown  in  the  frame,  putting  on  the  sashes  and  protect- 
ing it  from  the  frost  as  in  the  first  mode. 

The  third  mode  is  to  sow  the  seed  in  a  hot-bed  about 
the  latter  end  of  February  or  the  beginning  of  March.  For 
their  general  treatment  in  this  mode,  see  the  chapter  on 
Hot-beds. 

From  the  first  to  the  middle  of  April,  the  plants  raised 
by  either  of  these  modes  may  be  transplanted  with  a  dibble 
into  the  permanent  bed,  and  will  produce  good  heads  in 
June.  The  distance  apart  will  depend  upon  the  varieties 
grown,  some  requiring  much  more  room  than  others,  as 
they  differ  in  their  growths.  Such  early  sorts  as  we  shall 
recommend  may  be  planted  in  rows  two  feet  apart,  the 
plants  being  set  on  the  rows  eighteen  inches  apart.  They 
should  be  occasionally  hoed  and  earthed  up. 

For  the  late  or  autumn  crop,  the  seed  should  be  sown  in 
a  prepared  bed  in  the  open  ground  during  the  month  of 
May,  the  drills  being  three  or  four  inches  apart.  In  all 
sowings,  see  that  the  plants  do  not  stand  too  thickly 


CABBAGE.  69 

together,  so  as  to  guard  against  their  being  drawn  up. 
In  the  second  or  third  week  of  July  they  should  be  trans- 
planted into  the  permanent  bed,  in  rows  three  feet  apart, 
and  two  feet  from  plant  to  plant.  As  they  progress  in 
growth,  they  should  receive  three  or  four  deep  hoeings 
and  be  slightly  earthed  up. 

For  the  different  ways  of  preserving  cabbage  during  the 
winter,  see  the  chapter  on  Preserving  Vegetables. 

Cabbage  is  very  liable  to  be  what  is  called  club-footed, 
when  grown  two  or  more  years  in  succession  on  the  same 
soil;  it  should  therefore  always  be  grown  succeeding  peas, 
beets,  carrots,  parsnips,  or  some  other  crop  dissimilar  to 
itself,  and  never  after  cauliflowers,  kohl-rabi,  German 
greens,  or  any  other  cruciferous  plants.  This  disease 
shows  itself  in  the  form  of  radish-like  swellings  of  the  stem 
or  of  knotty  protuberances  on  the  roots,  and  is  generally 
discernible  on  the  young  plants  in  the  seed  bed  at  the  tune 
of  transplanting.  All  such  plants  should  be  thrown  away. 
Soil  has  much  to  do  with  clubbing,  which  is  more  prevalent 
on  poor,  gravelly  soils,  than  upon  those  that  are  deep  and 
rich.  Some  persons  think  that  the  disease  is  due  to  the 
larvae  of  an  insect,  as  the  grub  of  some  insect  is  almost 
always  found  in  the  diseased  part,  but  insects  being  found 
in  these  abnormal  growths  is  not  always  proof  that  the 
insects  have  produced  them,  for  many  insects  seek  such 
growths  in  which  to  lay  their  eggs.  Others  think  that  it 
is  due  to  the  exhaustion  from  the  soil  of  some  constituent 
necessary  to  the  growth  of  the  plant.  We  know  that  an 
the  cabbage  tribe  have  a  large  quantity  of  sulphur  in  their 
composition,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  fumes  of  sulphureted 
hydrogen  given  out  when  they  are  in  a  state  of  fermenta- 
tion and  decomposition,  and  the  flour  made  from  the  seed, 
as  in  flour  of  mustard,  turning  silver  black  when  exposed 


70  C  A  B  B  A  G  E. 

to  its  action.  It  may  therefore  be  that  this  element  may 
be  largely  wanting  in  some  soils,  and  soon  exhausted  by 
the  cabbage  crop.  Late  experiments  in  England  bear 
out  this  view,  as  it  has  been  found  that  a  light  sprinkling 
of  flour  of  sulphur  hi  the  seed  drills,  or  sulphur  applied 
with  the  manure  at  the  rate  of  seven  or  eight  pounds,  to 
the  acre,  is  a  preventive  of  this  disease.  It  would  also 
destroy  the  larvae  of  the  insect  if  it  is  caused  by  it,  as  no 
insects  can  stand  the  action  of  sulphur,  which,  in  a  finely 
comminuted  state,  is  no  doubt  readily  acted  upon  by  the 
atmosphere,  and  flour  of  sulphur  always  contains  a  large 
amount  of  free  sulphurous  acid  gas. 

The  varieties  of  cabbage  are  very  numerous,  but  for 
family  use  the  following  sorts  will  be  found  the  most  desir- 
able. The  large,  coarse-headed  sorts  are  by  no  means 
the  best,  as  they  are  wanting  in  delicacy  of  flavor,  and  are 
only  suitable  for  farming  purposes  or  for  making  sauer- 
kraut. 

Early  Jersey  Wakefield;  for  an  early  cabbage  has  a 
large  sized  head,  with  small  outside  leaves,  and  heads  well. 
As  it  does  not  produce  seed  freely,  it  is  sometimes  difficult 
to  get  seeds  of  this  sort.  It  is  so  much  esteemed  by  the 
New  York  market  gardeners,  that  they  sometimes  pay  $20 
per  pound  for  the  seed. 

Early  York;  is  an  old  standard  sort,  very  productive, 
and  quite  as  early  as  the  preceding,  but  not  as  large 
headed.  It  is  a  compact  growing  sort,  and  may  be  planted 
in  rows  eighteen  inches  apart,  and  fifteen  to  eighteen 
inches  in  the  rows. 

Bergen  Drumhead;  is  one  of  the  most  popular  sorts 
grown  for  the  New  York  market,  producing  large,  round, 
tender  and  well  flavored  heads.  It  should  be  planted 
three  feet  apart  each  way. 


c  A  it  D  o  o  x.  71 

Mason;  is  a  New  England  variety  of  medium  size,  form- 
ing a  solid  head;  it  is  very  reliable  in  heading  and  is  very 
fine  flavored. 

Green  Globe  Savoy;  has  a  medium  sized,  round  but 
rather  loosely  formed  head  of  fine  texture,  and  excellent, 
mild  flavor.  The  inner  loose  leaves  are  nearly  as  good  as  the 
head  when  cooked.  It  is  very  hardy,  and  is  better  for  use 
after  it  has  been  frosted.  As  it  is  late  in  heading,  it  should 
be  sown  early  in  the  seed  bed. 

Red  Dutch;  is  chiefly  used  for  pickling,  or  for  mixing  with 
white  cabbage,  in  making  cold-slaw.  It  has  a  medium 
sized,  very  solid  head  of  a  deep  red  color,  and  keeps  well. 
Like  the  savoys,  it  takes  a  long  season  to  mature,  and 
should  therefore  be  sown  early. 


CARLOON. 

This  plant  belongs  to  the  same  genus  as  the  artichoke; 
the  stems  of  the  leaves,  which  are  thick  and  crisp,  being 
used  when  blanched  as  asparagus  or  celery,  for  soups, 
stews,  or  as  a  salad.  It  is  hi  season  in  autumn  and  early 
winter. 

It  requires  a  moderately  rich  soil,  enriched  with  well- 
decomposed  manure ;  if  the  manure  is  too  fresh  and  strong, 
the  plants  will  be  apt  to  run  to  seed,  when  it  becomes  use- 
less as  a  vegetable. 

The  seeds  should  be  sown  in  April,  in  rows  three  feet 
apart,  in  groups  of  three  or  four  seeds,  the  groups  being 
twelve  or  fifteen  inches  apart  on  the  row,  and  the  seeds 
covered  an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a  half  deep.  When  the 
plants  are  three  or  four  inches  high,  all  but  one  in  each 
group  should  be  pulled  up.  If  during  the  summer  the 
weather  should  be  very  dry,  they  should  be  freely  watered. 


72  CARROT. 

In  September  the  plants  will  have  attained  their  full 
growth  and  be  ready  for  blanching.  This  process  is  best 
done  by  tying  the  leaves  together  with  bast  matting  or 
string,  then  drawing  a  little  earth  up  to  the  base  of  the 
plant,  and  then  covering  it  vertically,  or  thatching  it  with 
a  thickness  of  one  or  two  inches  of  long  straw,  held  in 
place  by  proper  ties  of  matting  or  twine.  In  about  three 
or  four  weeks  they  will  be  sufficiently  blanched  to  use. 

For  a  winter  supply,  the  plants  may  be  laid  in  a  trench  as 
directed  for  celery,  or  taken  up  with  their  roots  just  before 
cold  weather  sets  in,  and  then  packed  in  dry  sand,  one 
course  above  another,  in  a  dry  cellar.  They  will  keep  well 
and  become  more  perfectly  blanched. 

There  are  five  or  six  sorts,  but  for  use  in  this  country 
the  Large  Smooth  is  as  good  as  any. 


CARROT. 

The  carrot  prefers  a  light,  loamy  soil,  that  has  been 
well  manured  for  the  previous  crops  and  does  not  require 
fresh  manure ;  for  if  the  soij  is  too  rich,  the  plants  have  a 
tendency  to  run  to  leaf  and  not  to  form  roots,  and  fresh 
manure  is  apt  to  cause  the  roots,  as  it  does  with  all  spindle- 
shaped  roots,  to  become  forked  and  deformed.  The  soil 
should  be  deeply  spaded  and  well  pulverized. 

For  an  early  crop,  a  small  bed  may  be  sown  in  a  shel- 
tered spot  as  early  as  the  end  of  March,  and  from  that  time 
until  the  end  of  May,  at  intervals  of  two  weeks,  for  succes- 
sion crops.  The  principal  or  late  crop  should  not  be  sown 
until  June. 

For  the  early  crop  the  drills  should  be  about  an  inch 
deep  and  a  foot  apart,  the  plants  being  thinned  out  to  five 
or  six  inches  apart  on  the  row,  and  kept  well  hoed  and 


C  A  ULIFL  O  WE  n.  73 

clear  of  weeds  during  the  season.  When  grown  as  a  field 
crop,  the  drills  should  be  twenty  inches  apart.  As  the 
seed  comes  up  slowly;  and  does  not  mark  out  the  row  very 
distinctly,  a  sprinkling  of  red  turnip-rooted  radish  is  often 
sown  in  the  same  drills  with  the  carrot  seed,  in  order  to 
facilitate  the  hoeing  and  weeding.  Owing  to  the  seed 
being  liable  to  be  killed  by  drought,  it  is  always  best  to 
sow  it  somewhat  thickly,  and  thin  out  afterwards.  The 
soil  should  always  be  rolled  after  the  seed  is  sown,  so  as 
to  firm  it  down  and  keep  the  dry  summer  air  from  the 
seed,  as  that  retards  and  even  prevents  its  vegetating. 
The  best  two  sorts  for  garden  culture,  are  the 
Early  Horn,  which  is  best  for  the  early  crop ;  the  root 
is  about  two  inches  in  diameter  and  six  inches  in  length, 
tapering  but  little  and  terminating  abruptly  in  a  very 
slender  tap-root.  On  account  of  its  short  root,  it  is  well 
adapted  for  thin,  poor  soils,  in  which  the  longer  rooted 
varieties  do  not  succeed  so  well.  In  such  soils  it  can  be 
grown  as  a  late  as  well  as  an  early  crop. 

The  Long  Orange  is  generally  grown  for  the  main  crop, 
and  is  so  well  known  that  it  does  not  need  any  description. 
It  is  as  well  adapted  for  field  as  for  garden  culture. 


CAULIFLOWER. 

Like  the  broccoli,  to  which  it  is  akin,  the  cauliflower  re- 
quires a  very  rich  soil  to  succeed  well  and  to  grow  it  to 
perfection.  In  our  climate  it  is  best  grown  for  early  sum- 
mer use,  as  it  does  not  succeed  as  well  as  the  broccoli  when 
grown  for  autumn  use,  owing  to  the  severe  heat  and 
drought  of  our  summers. 

The  best  mode  of  cultivating  it,  is  to  sow  the  seeds,  from 
the  10th  to  the  20th  of  September,  in  a  bed  of  rich  soil.  In 


74  CAULIFLOWER. 

from  four  to  six  weeks  afterwards,  the  plants  should  be 
pricked  out  or  transplanted,  one  each  into  a  pint  flower- 
pot filled  with  rich  soil— say  one-third  well-rotted  manure 
and  two-thirds  earth— and  kept  over  winter  in  a  cold 
frame,  well  protected  from  frost  by  linings  and  coverings, 
giving  air  on  sunny  days. 

As  soon  as  the  weather  is  settled,  or  about  the  first  to 
the  10th  of  April,  they  should  be  turned  out  of  the  pots, 
without  breaking  the  balls,  into  the  permanent  bed;  plant- 
ing them  in  rows  about  thirty  inches  apart,  and  eighteen 
inches  between  the  plants.  A  top  dressing  of  lime  or  salt, 
or  a  mulching  of  sea- weed,  is  beneficial  to  them,  as  well 
as  to  broccoli.  They  should  be  well  hoed  and  cared  for 
during  their  growth,  from  time  to  time  drawing  up  some 
earth  around  the  stems.  In  dry  weather  they  should  have 
a  liberal  supply  of  water,  with  now  and  then  some  manure- 
water. 

When  the  flower  heads  show  themselves,  some  of  the 
leaves  should  be  broken  over  them,  in  order  to  protect 
them  from  the  rain  and  sun,  and  to  keep  the  heads  close 
and  of  a  pure  white  color.  They  will  be  fit  for  use  during 
the  month  of  June  or  the  beginning  of  July. 

Their  growth  may  be  accelerated  by  placing  over  each 
plant  a  small  protecting  frame,  which  should  be  allowed  to 
remain  over  them  until  the  leaves  begin  to  touch  the  glass, 
giving  air  every  fine  day.  By  using  a  protecting  frame, 
they  may  be  planted  out  by  the  beginning  of  April,  or  soon 
after  the  frost  is  out  of  the  ground,  as  they  will  stand  four 
or  five  degrees  of  frost. 

Another  mode  is  to  transplant  the  plants,  when  four  or 
five  weeks  old,  into  a  cold  frame,  as  in  wintering  over 
cabbage  plants,  and  next  spring  to  transplant  them  with  a 
trowel  into  the  permanent  bed.  *  In  such  a  frame  they 


CELERY.  75 

should  be  pricked  out  to  a  distance  of  six  inches  apart  each 
way.  The  soil  in  the  frame  should  be  kept  rather  dry,  for 
if  very  damp,  and  the  frames  are  not  kept  well  aired  on 
sunny, mild  days,  the  plants  will  be  liable  to  damp  off. 

Cauliflower  seed  may  also  be  sown  in  a  hot-bed  in  Janu- 
ary or  February,  and  when  the  plants  are  two  or  three 
inches  high  they  should  be  transplanted,  two  or  three  inches 
apart,  into  boxes  or  into  a  spent  hot-bed,  until  the  proper 
time  arrives  for  planting  them  in  the  open  ground.  Such 
plants,  however,  do  not  succeed  quite  as  well  as  those 
wintered  over. 

The  best  two  sorts  are  the 

Early  Erfurt ;  an  early,  dwarf-growing  variety,  pro- 
ducing good  sized,  uniformly  close,  compact  heads. 

Early  Walcheren;  is  the  same  as  the  broccoli  of  the 
same  name,  and,  as  before  stated,  it  can  hardly  be  deter- 
mined whether  it  is  a  cauliflower  or  a  broccoli.  It  is  pos- 
sibly a  cross  between  the  two.  This  succeeds  so  much 
better  as  an  autumn  crop  than  any  other  cauliflower,  that 
we  do  not  recommend  any  of  the  true  cauliflowers  for  that 
purpose.  Its  cultivation  as  an  autumn  crop  is  found  under 
the  head  of  broccoli. 

CELERY. 

This  18  a  somewhat  troublesome  vegetable  to  grow,  as  it 
requires  a  great  deal  of  management  and  much  labor, 
especially  if  the  larger  sorts  are  grown  in  the  old  method 
of  deep  trenches  and  high  banking  up.  Of  late  years 
dwarfer  sorts  have  been  introduced,  and  a  less  laborious 
and  troublesome  method  of  growing  and  blanching  it  has 
become  more  general.  By  some  of  our  later  writers  on 
gardening  the  present  method  has  been  claimed  to  be  a 
new  one,  but  it  was  in  iise  thirty  or  more  years  ago. 


76  CELERY. 

It  can  be  grown  so  as  to  be  fit  for  the  table  in  August  or 
September,  but  it  is  scarcely  desirable  to  do  so,  as  it  is 
seldom  wanted  at  that  season  of  the  year,  and  is  not  gen- 
erally as  good  as  that  which  comes  in  later  in  the  season. 
We  shall  confine  ourselves  to  giving  directions  for  grow- 
ing the  dwarf  varieties  as  a  late  crop,  they  being  much 
easier  to  grow  and  fully  equal  for  family  use  to  the  larger 
growing  sorts. 

In  the  beginning  of  April,  or  as  soon  as  the  soil  will  work 
freely,  in  an  airy  spot  not  exposed  to  great  heat,  prepare 
a  seed  bed,  the  soil  of  which  should  be  well  pulverized 
and  enriched  with  decomposed  stable  manure,  raking  it 
smoothly.  Draw  drills  eight  or  nine  inches  apart  and 
half  an  inch  deep,  and  in  them  sow  the  seed  rather 
thinly.  After  sowing,  roll  the  bed,  or  with  a  board  press 
the  soil  firmly  about  the  seeds.  When  they  are  two  or 
three  inches  high  they  should  be  pricked  out,  four  to  six 
inches  apart  each  way,  into  a  nursery-bed  of  rich  earth,  in 
which  they  may  remain  for  five  or  six  weeks,  at  which 
time  they  will  be  about  seven  or  eight  inches  high,  and 
ready  to  transplant  into  the  regular  beds.  When  pricked 
out  into  the  nursery  bed,  they  should  be  watered  and 
lightly  shaded  for  two  or  three  days,  and  if  the  weather  is 
dry  they  should  receive  frequent  and  liberal  waterings. 

The  transplanting  into  the  permanent  bed  may  be  done 
at  any  tune  in  the  month  of  July,  or  even  up  to  the  middle 
of  August.  There  are  many  ways  of  preparing  these  beds, 
but  we  only  give  directions  for  two  such  different  modes  as 
involve  the  least  labor. 

A  bed  four  to  six  feet  wide,  and  of  any  desirable  length, 
should  be  dug  out  to  a  foot  in  depth,  and  the  soil  laid  upon 
the  edges  of  the  bed;  the  bottom  is  then  to  be  well  spaded, 
and  well  manured  with  either  short  stable  or  cow  manure, 


CELERY.  77 

or  with  guano.  In  this  bed  the  plants  are  to  set  in  rows 
fourteen  inches  apart,  and  the  plants  nine  inches  apart  on 
the  rows.  When  taking  them  from  the  nursery  bed,  be 
careful  to  take  them  up  with  all  fheir  roots  attached,  and 
be  sure  to  set  them  firmly  in  the  soil  of  the  bed.  The 
leaves  should  be  left  entire,  and  not  clipped  or  shortened, 
only  removing  any  suckers  that  may  grow  from  the  main 
stem.  After  planting  they  should  be  well  watered,  and 
shaded  by  placing  a  board  about  eight  or  nine  inches  wide 
directly  over  each  row,  and  an  inch  or  two  above  the  plants. 
The  intervening  space  between  the  boards  will  admit  light 
and  air;  at  the  end  of  a  week  or  ten  days  they  will  be 
well  established,  and  the  boards  can  then  be  removed. 
During  their  growth  they  will  be  benefited  by  occasional 
waterings  of  weak  guano  water,  being  careful  not  to  let  it 
get  into  the  heart  of  the  plant. 

From  the  middle  to  the  end  of  August,  the  earthing  up 
process  may  be  begun  for  such  as  may  be  wanted  for  use  in 
September  or  October;  and  about  the  middle  of  September 
for  such  as  may  be  needed  for  use  in  November.  When 
the  plants  are  about  fifteen  or  eighteen  niches  high,  remove 
any  suckers  or  offshoots,  and  then  take  two  boards  nine 
inches  wide,  as  long  as  the  width  of  the  bed ;  place  one  on 
each  side  of  a  row  of  plants,  close  up  to  them.  Then  fill 
in  the  space  between  them  with  the  soil  taken  out  of  the 
bed,  pulverizing  it  very  finely  as  it  is  thrown  in,  letting  it 
remain  as  thrown  hi  without  treading  down.  When  the 
spaces  between  the  two  rows  is  filled  in  to  the  height  of  the 
boards,  gently  and  carefully  withdraw  them,  and  do 
another  row  in  the  same  way.  When  the  ooards  are  with- 
drawn, the  loose  earth  will  roll  down  into  the  spaces 
between  the  plants  without  getting  into  their  hearts,  and 
will  make  a  level  earthing  up  of  about  six  inches.  The 


7S  CELERY. 

process  is  to  be  repeated  two  or  three  times,  or  every  fort- 
night, according  to  the  height  the  plants  may  attain. 
Some  place  the  boards  slightly  inclining  towards  the 
plants,  retaining  them  in  this  position  by  triangular  pieces 
of  board  shaped  like  an  inverted  V.  This  is  done  the 
better  to  insure  the  earth  falling  in  between  the  plants 
when  the  boards  are  removed.  Earthing  up  should  be 
done  when  the  plants  are  quite  dry,  for  if  done  when  they 
have  dew  or  rain  upon  them  they  will  be  liable  to  rust. 
Thus  treated,  all  the  trouble  of  handling  the  plants  and 
pressing  the  soil  in  between  the  plants  by  hand  is  avoided. 

Some  gardeners  do  not  commence  earthing  them  up 
until  they  have  attained  nearly  their  full  size,  and  gener- 
ally do  it  at  one  operation,  earthing  them  as  high  as  can 
be  done  without  burying  their  hearts.  In  this  case  wider 
boards  will  be  required.  Should  the  weather  continue 
open  and  mild,  and  the  plants  continue  growing,  they 
give  them  another  earthing  up  about  the  first  of  Novem- 
ber. Others  let  the  plants  make  their  natural  growth,  and 
earth  them  up  at  one  operation  three  or  four  weeks  before 
they  are  wanted  for  use.  It  is  not  necessary  to  earth  up 
that  which  is  intended  for  winter  use  more  than  once. 

A  second  mode  of  growing  them  is  to  set  out  the  plants 
at  one  foot  apart  each  way,  in  a  level  bed  of  rich  soil. 
Planted  thus  thickly,  the  plants  retain  an  erect  position 
but  are  not  as  large  and  strong  as  when  grown  by  the 
previous  method.  The  soil  between  the  plants  must 
receive  two  or  three  successive  hoeings  to  keep  the  plants 
clear  of  weeds.  When  grown  in  this  way  it  is  intended 
for  midwinter  or  later  use,  being  blanched  in  the  preserv- 
ing pit. 

The  best  mode  of  preserving  it  for  winter  use  is  to  dig 
out  a  trench  ten  or  twelve  inches  wide  with  square  sides, 


CELERY.  79 

the  depth  to  correspond  with  the  height  of  the  celery,  and 
of  any  convenient  length  from  four  to  six  or  eight  feet. 
Into  this  trench  the  celery  is  placed  after  it  is  dug  up, 
just  as  it  comes  from  the  bed,  without  trimming  either  the 
roots  or  tops.  The  plants  are  to  be  put  in  upright,  one  by 
one,  side  by  side  against  the  sides  of  the  trench,  and  the 
earth  then  filled  in.  Another  trench  is  then  opened  along- 
side the  first  and  about  twelve  inches  from  it,  and  thus 
one  trench  after  the  other  until  the  whole  crop  is  laid  in. 
The  tops  are  to  be  left  uncovered  and  projecting  a  couple 
of  inches.  The  time  to  commence  this  operation  is  about 
the  20th  of  October,  and  it  can  be  continued  at  intervals 
of  a  week  apart ;  that  first  set  in  the  trench  will  be  fit  for 
use  by  the  first  of  December,  and  that  last  put  in  can  be 
used  until  March  or  April. 

When  the  last  lot  is  put  in,  the  bed  should  be  covered 
with  a  layer  of  small  brush  to  the  depth  of  five  or  six  inches, 
and  on  this  a  layer  of  leaves,  hay  or  straw  should  be 
gradually  laid,  so  that  by  the  middle  of  December,  or 
when  cold  weather  has  steadily  set  in,  it  will  amount  to  a 
foot  or  more  in  depth.  This  mode  of  covering  it  with  brush, 
and  gradually  with  other  material,  will  keep  it  cool  and 
prevent  it  heating  or  decaying.  As  the  covering  keeps 
out  the  frost,  the  celery  can  be  dug  out  as  wanted  during 
the  winter.  If  there  is  any  danger  of  water  from  the  sur- 
rounding land  getting  into  the  bed,  an  open  drain  should 
be  opened  all  around  the  bed,  as  the  bed  should  be  kept  as 
dry  as  possible. 

The  best  dwarf  sorts  are  the  following : 

Early  Dwarf  Solid  White,  Incomparable  White  of  some 
seedsmen,  has  a  solid  leaf  stalk,  compact  heart,  well 
flavored,  early  and  hardy,  and  blanching  readily. 

Boston  Market;  is  hardy,  crisp,  solid,  mild  flavored,  not 
liable  to  become  stringy,  and  blanches  quickly. 


80  CELEEIAC. 

Carter's  Dwarf  Crimson  or  Incomparable  Dwarf  Red  of 
some,  is  similar  to  the  Incomparable  White,  but  differing 
from  it  in  color,  the  leaf  stalks  being  of  a  rosy  crimson 
color. 

CELEEIAC. 

Is  a  variety  of  celery  producing  roots  resembling  a  tur- 
nip or  kohl-rabi.  The  time  of  sowing  the  seed  and  its 
early  culture  is  the  same  as  celery,  but  it  is  grown  in  level 
surface  beds,  and  not  in  trenches,  like  the  celery  from  the 
nursery  or  seed  beds.  The  soil  should  be  well  manured, 
and  the  plants  set  out  at  the  same  time  as  celery,  in  rows 
eighteen  inches  apart  and  six  inches  between  the  plants. 
When  planted  out,  all  suckers  or  side  shoots  should  be  re- 
moved, and,  from  time  to  time,  during  its  growth  in  the 
permanent  bed,  they  should  be  looked  over  for  the  same 
purpose. 

Keep  the  soil  well  stirred  between  the  plants,  and  in  dry 
weather  water  freely,  so  as  to  keep  them  in  a  constantly 
growing  state.  When  their  growth  is  nearly  completed, 
they  should  receive  a  slight  earthing  up  with  the  hoe,  so  as 
to  somewhat  blanch  the  roots,  and  render  them  more  tender 
and  succulent. 

Some  persons  protect  it  in  winter  as  directed  for  celery, 
others  cut  the  tops  off  and  store  them  in  pits  like  potatoes, 
or  in  boxes  of  damp  sand  or  earth  in  a  dry  cellar.  It  is  a 
much  hardier  plant  than  the  common  celery. 

It  is  used  as  a  root  salad  by  slicing  the  roots  and  serving 
them  with  vinegar  and  oil,  by  stewing  them  like  turnips 
and  serving  them  with  drawn  butter,  and  slicing  and  put- 
ting them  into  soups  for  flavoring  purposes.  It  is  a  very 
desirable  addition  to  our  list  of  winter  vegetables. 

There  are  three  varieties  named  in  the  seed  catalogues, 
but  the  ordinary  sort  is  tho  best  of  them. 


CHER  VIL—CHICCORY.  81 

f~ 

i 

CHERVIL, 

Of  this  vegetable  there  are  two  species,  botanically 
speaking;  one  grown  to  be  used  as  parsley  for  garnishing; 
the  other  known  as  the  Turnip-rooted  Chervil,  grown  for 
its  roots,  which  resemble  an  early  horn  carrot  in  size  and 
shape,  the  flesh  being  white  and  mealy,  having  somewhat 
the  flavor  of  a  sweet  potato. 

The  species  grown  for  its  leaves  is  known  as  Curled- 
leaved  Chervil.  The  seed  should  be  thinly  sown  in  May,  in 
drills  half  an  inch  deep  and  twelve  inches  apart.  It  requires 
a  good  rich  soil.  The  leaves  are  used  for  garnishing,  for 
putting  in  salads  and  for  flavoring  soups. 

The  Turnip-rooted  Chervil  is  of  recent  introduction,  and 
is  as  hardy  as  the  parsnip,  its  culture  being  the  same.  The 
seeds  germinate  but  slowly  in  hot,  dry  weather;  they  should 
therefore  be  sown  as  early  hi  the  spring  as  the  ground  is  in 
good  working  order. 


CHICCQRY 

The  leaves  of  this  plant  are  used  as  a  salad,  and  the 
roots  as  a  substitute  for,  or  to  adulterate,  coffee. 

It  makes  a  most  excellent  winter  salad  when  blanched, 
and  is  very  easily  grown,  much  resembling  endive.  The 
seeds  should  be  sown  in  May,  in  drills  three-quarters  of  an 
inch  deep  and  about  fifteen  inches  apart.  The  soil  should 
be  rich,  mellow  and  well  trenched  twelve  or  more  inches 
deep.  When  the  young  plants  are  two  or  three  inches 
high,  they  should  be  thinned  out  to  eight  inches  apart.  The 
soil  should  be  kept  frequently  stirred  and  clear  of  weeds. 

Before  being  used  as  a  salad  the  leaves  must  be  blanched, 
which  is  done  by  inverting  boxes  or  flower-pots  over  them 


82  CHIVES. 

about  twelve  inches  deep,  or  by  placing  boards,  nailed 
together  at  right  angles  thus  y\,  over  the  rows.  When 
wanted  for  winter  use,  the  plants  are  to  be  taken  up  late 
in  the  fall  and  planted  thickly  in  a  box  filled  with  sand  or 
light  earth,  and  then  placed  in  a  cool  cellar,  watering  them 
after  planting.  When  wanted  for  use,  a  box  full  of  them 
should  be  placed  in  a  dark  room  where  the  temperature 
will  be  from  50°  to  60°;  or  they  may  be  placed  in  the 
kitchen,  and  another  box,  such  as  a  soap  box,  inverted 
over  them.  They  will  soon  start  into  growth,  and  afford 
a  supply  of  blanched  leaves  for  salading  purposes.  After  the 
leaves  are  cut  off,  the  roots  are  of  no  further  use  and  may  be 
thrown  away, bringing  another  box  full  to  supply  their  place. 

This  vegetable  is  not  much  used  in  this  country,  but  is 
largely  used  in  England,  and  to  a  greater  extent  in  Hol- 
land and  Belgium,  as  it  is  so  readily  grown. 

There  are  five  or  six  varieties  grown  in  Europe;  the 
Large-rooted,  or  Coffee  Chiccory,  or  the  Magdebourg,  are 
generally  preferred  as  being  the  most  luxuriant  in  growth 
and  the  most  productive. 


CHIVES. 

This  is  a  well-known  species  of  the  onion  family.  The 
leaves  are  the  principal  parts  used,  principally  for  flavor- 
ing soups,  as  an  ingredient  in  spring  salads,  and  for  flavor- 
ing omelets. 

It  is  very  hardy,  and  will  grow  in  almost  any  soil.  It  is 
propagated  by  division  of  the  roots,  as  it  seldom,  if  ever, 
produces  seeds.  The  bulbs,  two  or  three  together,  should 
be  set  out  in  May  in  rows  fifteen  or  eighteen  inches  apart, 
the  tufts  twelve  inches  apart  on  the  row.  To  have  them 
young  and  tender,  the  plants  should  be  frequently  cut 
down,  so  as  to  insure  a  young  growth  for  use. 


C  OLE  WO  R  T—  CORN.  83 

COLEWORT, 

The  true  Colewort  or  Collards  is  quite  distinct  from  the 
ordinary  cabbage,  but  is  now  supposed  to  be  lost  to  garden 
cultivation.  Its  place  has  been  supplied  by  sowing  the 
seeds  of  early  cabbage  in  drills  a  foot  apart  and  half  an 
inch  deep,  thinning  them  out  to  six  or  eight  inches  apart, 
and  keeping  up  a  succession  by  sowings  at  intervals  of 
two  weeks,  from  the  last  of  April  to  the  last  of  June,  for 
summer  use,  and  in  September  for  autumn  use. 

The  young  plants,  when  six  or  eight  inches  high,  are 
used  as  spinach. 

CORN. 

For  garden  purposes  the  most  suitable  sorts  to  grow  are 
those  known  as  "  Sweet."  They  may  be  either  grown  in 
hills  or  in  rows.  When  in  the  former  they  should  be  placed 
three  or  four  feet  apart  each  way.  When  grown  in  rows 
they  should  be  about  four  feet  apart,  and  the  seeds  should 
be  planted  eight  or  nine  inches  apart  on  the  rows.  The 
proper  time  for  planting  is  from  the  middle  of  May  until 
the  middle  of  July,  planting  at  intervals  of  two  weeks,  to 
have  a  succession  of  green  ears. 

Corn  requires  a  light  soil,  and  should  be  well  manured  to 
insure  large  ears ;  keep  the  soil  well  hoed,  and  hill  up  the 
plants  well. 

Darling's  Early  is  an  early  productive  variety,  of  rather 
dwarf  habit,  so  that  the  hills  may  be  three  feet  apart  one 
way  and  only  two  and  a  half  feet  the  other ;  or  the  drills 
may  be  three  feet  apart. 

Jjiirfs  Mammoth  is  a  larger  growing,  later  sort  than  the 
preceding.  It  is  a  twelve  to  sixteen  rowed  variety.  It  is 
hardy  and  productive. 


84  CBE  S  S—C  U  C  U  MB  E  E. 

CHESS. 

This  is  an  early  spring  salad,  used  either  alone,  or  mixed 
with  lettuce  and  other  salad  plants  to  make  them  piquant. 

It  should  be  sown  as  early  in  the  spring  as  the  ground 
is  in  working  order.  Sow  thickly  in  drills  six  or  eight 
inches  apart,  making  successive  sowings  at  intervals  of  a 
week  or  ten  days  apart.  Cut  it  for  use  when  three  or  four 
inches  high. 

There  are  six  or  eight  varieties,  but  the  curled-leaved  is 
the  most  useful,  as  it  can  be  used  for  garnishing  as  well  as 
for  salads. 

CUCUMBER. 

Cucumbers  require  a  very  rich,  warm,  moist  soil  to  grow 
them  well. 

To  forward  them  and  have  them  early,  the  seeds  should 
be  sown  in  small  flower-pots,  one  seed  hi  each,  from  the 
first  to  the  15th  of  April,  and  then  placed  in  a  cool  frame, 
keeping  the  sashes  close  and  protecting  them  with  cover- 
ings if  the  nights  are  cool,  until  the  seeds  come  up,  which 
will  be  in  five  or  six  days.  After  sowing  the  seeds  they 
should  be  watered  with  milk-warm  water,  cold  water 
having  a  tendency  to  rot  them  by  chilling  the  soil.  After 
the  seeds  come  up,  air  should  be  given  every  sunny  day 
from  nine  o'clock  .in  the  morning  until  three  or  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  by  tilting  the  sashes  or  drawing  them 
down  three  or  four  inches. 

In  three  or  four  weeks'  time,  or  when  they  have  two  or 
three  rough  leaves,  the  plants  will  be  ready  for  transplant- 
ing out-of-doors,  in  hills  four  to  six  ,feet  apart  each  way, 
putting  three  plants  in  a  hill.  Each  hill  should  have  one 
or  two  shovelfuls  of  well-rotted  manure,  well  incorporated 


CUCUMBER.  85 

with  the  soil.  Another  mode  of  forwarding  them  is  to  cut 
sods  two  or  three  inches  thick  and  four  to  six  inches  square, 
and  placing  them,  grass  side  down,  side  by  side  hi  the 
frame.  On  each  sod  place  three  or  four  cucumber  seeds, 
and  cover  them  with  half  an  inch  of  light,  rich  soil,  sifted 
fine,  and  watering  as  before.  Their  after  treatment  is  the 
same  as  that  of  those  started  in  pots.  In  transplanting 
them  to  the  hills,  bury  the  sod  about  hah0"  an  inch  deeper 
than  the  soil  with  which  the  seeds  were  overlaid. 

In  either  mode  of  starting  them,  they  should  be  watered 
and  partially  shaded  for  a  day  or  two  after  being  trans- 
planted to  the  hills.  If  the  weather  should  be  very  dry, 
the  hills  should  occasionally  be  liberally  watered,  choosing 
the  evening  for  doing  so. 

If  protecting  boxes  can  be  had,  then  the  seeds  may  be 
sown  at  once  in  the  hills  and  a  box  placed  over  each, 
treating  them  the  same  as  to  airing  and  watering  as  though 
they  were  in  a  frame.  By  either  of  these  modes  the  plants 
will  escape  being  devoured  by  the  striped  bug. 

Outdoor  sowing  should  be  done  from  the  first  to  the 
15th  of  May,  sowing  about  twenty  seeds  hi  a  hill  and 
covering  them  half  an  inch  deep  with  soil.  When  such  of 
them  as  may  have  escaped  the  attacks  of  the  bug  have  de- 
veloped three  or  four  rough  leaves,  pull  up  all  but  three  or 
four  in  each  hill.  Where  protectors  are  used  against  the 
ravages  of  the  bug,  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  sow  more 
than  six  or  eight  seeds  in  a  hill. 

Pickling  cucumbers  in  garden  culture  should  be  grown 
in  hills  six  feet  apart  each  way  and  well  manured  with  de- 
composed manure.  The  seed  should  be  sown  from  the 
middle  of  June  to  the  middle  of  July,  seeding  liberally  as 
before,  to  make  up  for  the  ravages  of  the  bug.  As  soon  as 
the  cucumbers  are  of  suitable  size  for  pickling,  the  beds 


86  DANDELION. 

should  be  gone  over  every  day  or  two  to  gather  them,  as 
when  left  to  grow  large  the  plants  are  not  so  productive. 

There  are  numerous  varieties  of  the  cucumber,  but  the 
following  are  the  best  for  family  use  : 

White-spined;  it  grows  from  six  to  eight  inches  long,  is 
of  good  flavor,  crisp  and  tender.  It  is  very  productive  and 
does  not  soon  turn  yellow ;  it  is  also  a  good  variety  for 
pickling  when  very  small  pickles  are  not  wanted. 

Long  Green  Turkey.  This  variety  grows  from  fifteen  to 
eighteen  niches  long.  It  is  slender  and  has  but  few  seeds, 
and  is  very  well  suited  for  serving  on  the  table  unsliced. 
It  is  very  productive,  of  excellent  flavor,  crisp  and  firm. 
On  account  of  its  having  but  few  seeds,  it  is  an  excellent 
sort  for  large  pickles. 

Short  Green  or  GherJcin;  is  mostly  used  for  pickling;  it 
is  hardy,  productive  and  well  flavored.  There  is  a  sort 
known  as  Underwood's  Short  Prickly,  which  is  said  to  be 
an  improvement  upon  the  original  variety  in  being  more 
crisp  and  solid.  

DANDELION. 

This  plant,  now  so  common  in  our  fields  and  gardens, 
was  originally  introduced  from  Europe,  and  in  its  indigen- 
ous state  in  this  country  is  an  escape  from  our  gardens. 

When  cultivated  in  good  rich  garden  soil  it  makes 
admirable  spring  greens,  and  when  blanched,  a  salad 
resembling  endive.  The  seed  should  be  sown  in  May  or 
June,  in  good  rich  deep  soil.  Sow  in  drills  half  an  inch 
deep,  and  twelve  or  fifteen  inches  apart,  and  in  July  thin 
out  the  plants  to  three  or  four  inches  apart.  The  follow- 
ing spring  they  will  be  fit  for  use.  When  wanted  as  a 
salad,  blanch  the  heads  as  directed  for  endive. 

As  it  is  an  early  as  well  as  a  most  healthful  vegetable,  it 
is  again  coming  into  use. 


EGG-PLANT.  87 

EGG  PLANT. 

The  seeds  of  this  plant  require  a  considerable  amount  of 
heat  to  cause  them  to  vegetate  freely — hence  they  should 
he  sown  in  a  hot-bed  about  the  end  of  March  or  the  begin- 
ning of  April,  keeping  the  sashes  on  and  covering  them 
at  night  until  the  young  plants  show  themselves ;  then  a 
little  air  may  be  given  in  the  middle  of  the  day  if  bright 
and  warm.  If  a  hot-bed  cannot  be  had,  some  seeds  may 
he  sown  in  flower-pots,  and  started  on  the  inside  sill  of  a 
sunny  window  of  the  kitchen  or  other  warm  room. 

When  the  plants  are  two  or  three  inches  high,  they 
should  be  pricked  out  into"  small  pots,  one  plant  in  each, 
replaced  in  the  frame,  and  watered  and  shaded  for  three 
or  four  days,  until  they  make  new  roots.  About  the  first 
week  in  June  they  may  be  turned  out  of  the  pots  and 
planted  in  the  open  ground,  in  a  warm  sheltered  border, 
at  a  distance  of  two  and  a  half  to  three  feet  apart  each 
way.  The  soil  cannot  be  made  too  rich  for  them.  When 
they  are  about  a  foot  high,  draw  the  earth  up  to  them,  as 
in  hilling  any  other  vegetables. 

One  or  two  dozen  plants  will  produce  enough  of  fruit  for 
a  small  family. 

The  best  two  sorts  are  the  Neiv  York  Improved  and  the 
"Black  Pekin.  The  first  is  distinguished  from  the  other 
purple  varieties,  in  being  more  stocky  and  robust  in 
growth,  and  in  having  the  stems  and  leaves  thickly  set 
with  spines.  It  is  also  more  productive  than  the  others. 

The  Black  Pekin  has  very  dark  purple,  almost  black 
fruit,  of  a  globular  shape,  large  and  very  solid.  It  is  some- 
what earlier  than  the  first  named  sort  and  very  productive. 

The  white,  striped  and  scarlet  varieties  are  not  worth 
cultivating  in  the  kitchen  garden,  being  only  serviceable 
as  ornamental  plants. 


88  ENDIVE 

ENDIVE. 

Endive,  like  lettuce,  is  a  salad  plant  that  can  be  had  all 
through  the  summer  and  autumn ;  but  as  the  early  sown 
crop  is  liable  to  run  to  seed,  owing  to  the  heat  of  our  sum- 
mers, it  is  generally  grown  as  an  autumn  salad. 

There  are  two  distinct  classes  of  it  cultivated,  of  each 
of  which  there  are  also  several  varieties.  The  one  is  known 
as  Curl-leaved  Endive  by  the  English,  and  by  the  French 
is  called  Chicoree  des  Jardins,  and,  with  its  varieties,  has 
curled  or  frizzled  leaves.  The  other  class,  with  its  varie- 
ties, is  known  as  Batavian  Endive  by  the  English,  and  by 
the  French  is  called  Scarolle.  It  has  broad  smooth  leaves. 

If  early  crops  should  be  desired,  the  seed  may  be  sown 
at  the  same  time  as  early  lettuce,  and  the  plants  set  out 
and  cultivated  in  the  same  way.  They  require  the  same 
kind  of  soil  as  lettuce.  FOT  the  autumn  crop  the  seed 
should  be  sown  in  June  or  July,  and  when  the  plants  are 
three  or  four  inches  high,  which  will  be  in  August  or  Sep- 
tember, they  should  be  planted  out  in  rows  one  foot  apart 
each  away.  The  Batavian  sorts,  having  larger  leaves  than 
the  curled-leaved  sorts,  will  require  to  be  planted  fifteen 
inches  apart  each  way.  If  the  planting  is  not  done  in 
cloudy  or  moist  weather,  they  should  be  watered  when 
planted.  The  after  cultivation  is  the  same  as  lettuce. 

It  is  always  blanched  before  it  is  used,  as  otherwise  it 
has  a  bitter,  unpleasant  taste.  There  are  three  or  four 
ways  of  doing  this.  When  the  root  leaves  of  the  plants 
have  attained  their  full  size,  the  leaves  are  to  be  gathered 
up,  and  tied  together  at  their  tips  with  a  bit  of  twine  or 
bast  matting.  The  outer  leaves  thus  tied  up  exclude  the 
air  and  light,  and  thus  blanch  the  interior  leaves.  They 
should  be  tied  up  when  quite  dry,,for  if  wet  the  interior 
leaves  will  decay. 


FETTICUS.  89 

Another  mode  is  to  invert  a  flower-pot  over  each  plant, 
closing  the  hole  in  the  bottom.  A  still  better  way  is  to  lay 
a  piece  of  flat  board,  ten  or  twelve  inches  square,  over  each 
plant ;  or  a  plank  or  board  of  that  width  can  be  laid  over 
as  many  plants  on  the  row  as  its  length  will  cover.  As 
the  crop  is  not  all  needed  at  once,  only  as  many  plants  as 
are  likely  to  be  needed  for  three  or  four  days'  use  should 
be  blanchad  at  one  time.  If  the  weather  is  warm,  they 
will  blanch  in  ten  or  twelve  days,  but  as  the  season  gets 
cooler  it  will  require  three  or  four  weeks  to  finish  the 
process. 

When  wanted  for  winter  use,  tie  up  the  leaves  as  before 
directed,  before  frost  se.ts  in,  and  then  take  up  the  plants 
carefully,  with  a  ball  of  earth  to  each,  and  set  them  out  in 
boxes  filled  with  light  earth  in  a  light  warm  cellar,  water- 
ing them  after  planting,  but  being  careful  not  to  put  any 
water  on  the  leaves.  They  should  be  taken  up  when  dry, 
all  dead  or  decayed  leaves  removed,  and  the  plants  not 
allowed  to  touch  each  other  in  the  boxes.  In  this  way 
they  may  be  kept  until  spring. 

The  French  and  Germans  have  several  sorts  of  endive, 
but  with  us  the  Green-curled  among  the  Chicoree  sorts, 
and  the  small  Batavian  among  the  Scarolles,  are  the  two 
best,  both  bleaching  readily,  and  not  being  as  bitter  as 
some  other  varieties. 

FETTICUS. 

This  vegetable  is  chiefly  grown  as  a  winter  and  early 
spring  salad,  although  it  is  sometimes  used  boiled  as  greens 
or  spinach. 

It  requires  a  rich  soil.  The  seed  may  be  sown  towards 
the  end  of  August  or  the  beginning  of  September  in  drills 
six  or  eight  inches  apart  and  half  an  inch  deep,  rolling 


90  GARLIC— GARDEN  PATIENCE. 

them  after  sowing.  When  the  plants  are  well  up,  thin 
them  out  to  three  or  four  inches  apart.  Keep  it  well  hoed 
and  clear  of  weeds,  and  when  severe  weather  sets  in,  give 
it  a  slight  covering  of  straw  or  salt  hay,  as  is  done  with 
spinach,  removing  it  in  March  or  April. 

It  can  also  be  sown  early  in  the  spring,  as  soon  as  the 
ground  is  in  working  order,  and  will  be  ready  for  use  in 
six  or  eight  weeks  afterwards.  * 


GARLIC. 

The  root  of  this  plant  is  composed  of  numerous  small 
bulbs,  called  "  cloves"  or  "  sets."  It  requires  a  light,  rich 
soil.  The  cloves  should  be  planted  in  April  or  May  an 
inch  deep,  in  rows  twelve  inches  apart,  and  five  or  six 
inches  apart  on  the  rows.  The  soil  should  be  kept  loose 
and  clear  of  weeds,  and  when  the  tops  wither,  which  will 
be  some  time  in  August,  the  bulbs  will  be  fit  to  gather. 
They  should  be  kept  the  same  as  onions. 


GARDEN  PATIENCE, 

This  plant,  which  is  a  species  of  dock,  is  seldom  if  ever 
grown  as  a  vegetable  in  this  country,  but  is  used  in  the 
place  of  spinach  in  some  parts  of  Europe,  especially  in 
Sweden,  where  they  cut  and  boil  the  young,  tender  leaves, 
adding  about  a  fourth  part  of  sorrel  to  them,  making  an 
excellent  dish. 

It  is  a  hardy  perennial,  growing  four  to  five  feet  high, 
and  will  grow  in  almost  any  soil.  The  seeds  should  be 
sown  in  April  or  May,  in  drills  fifteen  inches  apart  and  an 
inch  deep,  and  when  the  plants  are  three  or  four  inches 
high  they  should  be  thinned  out  'to  ten  or  twelve  inches 


HORSE-RADISH.  91 

apart.  To  make  it  produce  large-sized  leaves  abundantly, 
the  flower  stems  should  be  cut  out  as  soon  as  they  develop 
themselves.  It  may  be  cut  for  three  or  four  years. 

The  common  Yellow  Dock,  which  is  a  somewhat  trouble- 
some weed,  when  treated  in  the  same  way  also  yields  a 
very  wholesome  substitute  for  spinach  or  greens. 


HORSE-RADISH. 

As  the  long,  tapering  roots  of  this  vegetable  are  the 
parts  used,  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  have  them  in  perfec- 
tion, to  follow  such  a  course  of  cultivation  as  will  most  fully 
develop  them.  To  this  end  it  is  necessary  that  the  soil 
should  be  deep,  rich  and  mellow.  In  a  dry,  gravelly  soil, 
or  a  soil  that  has  a  hard,  clayey  subsoil,  it  does  not  do 
well. 

The  old  practice  was  to  plant  the  crown  of  the  roots  in 
the  spring  or  autumn  in  a  deeply-trenched  soil,  and  cultivate 
it  two  years  before  taking  the  crop.  When  grown  from  the 
crowns  they  fork  off  into  several  small  roots,  which  cannot 
in  a  single  season  attain  a  proper  size  for  use,  and  are 
liable  to  be  hollow  and  otherwise  imperfect.  The  modern 
mode  of  growing  it  is  as  follows : 

Early  in  the  spring  prepare  a  bed  of  any  size  deemed 
necessary,  by  trenching  a  piece  of  rich  soil  two  feet  deep, 
laying  a  good  dressing  of  manure  in  the  bottom  of  each 
trench,  digging  it  lightly  into  the  bottom  soil,  but  not  mix- 
ing it  with  the  soil  above,  as  this  induces  the  growth  of 
numerous  fibrous  side  roots.  Line  the  bed  out  in  rows  two 
feet  apart,  and  plant  root  sets  sixteen  or  eighteen  inches 
apart  on  the  row.  These  sets  should  be  sound,  solid  pieces 
of  the  roots  from  three-eighths  to  half  an  inch  in  diameter, 
cut  from  four  to  six  inches  long.  With  a  dibble  of  suitable 


92  JERUSALEM    ARTICHOKE. 

• 

diameter  make  holes  at  the  distances  indicated  above; 
into  each  of  these  holes  drop  a  set,  being  very  careful  to 
have  the  top  end  uppermost  in  the  hole,  the  depth  of  which 
should  be  so  proportioned  to  the  length  of  the  set  as  to 
permit  the  top  end  to  be  covered  with  soil  not  over  an  inch 
in  depth.  Press  the  soil  closely  and  firmly  to  the  set. 
The  after  cultivation  simply  consists  in  keeping  it  clear  of 
weeds. 

In  the  months  of  November  or  December  the  roots  will 
be  ready  for  use,  and  should  then  be  dug  up,  the  leaves  re- 
moved, and  the  roots  packed  away  in  boxes  of  moist  earth 
in  a  cellar,  or  kept  with*  other  vegetables  in  a  preserv- 
ing pit. 

If  a  large  supply  is  not  wanted,  a  trench  two  feet  wide 
and  two  feet  deep,  of  any  desired  length,  may  be  opened 
in  any  convenient  part  of  the  garden,  well  manured  at  the 
bottom,  and  planted  along  the  centre  with  a  single  row  of 
sets.  

JERUSALEM  ARTICHOKE. 

This  plant  is  misnamed,  as  it  is  not  an  artichoke,  but  a 
species  of  sunflower  with  tuberous  roots,  which  are  the 
parts  used  for  culinary  purposes.  Before  the  introduction 
of  the  potato  it  was  in  common  use,  but  is  now  but  seldom 
cultivated. 

It  requires  the  same  kind  of  cultivation  as  the  potato, 
and  is  propagated  by  cutting  the  tubers  into  sets  with  two 
eyes  to  each,  keeping  the  ground  loose  by  frequent  hoeings. 
It  is  perfectly  hardy,  and  in  removing  the  crop,  care  should 
be  had  to  gather  all  the  tubers,  for  if  left  in  the  ground, 
they  will  start  into  growth  the  succeeding  spring  and 
become  troublesome  weeds. 

There  are  three  or  four  varieties,  differing  mainly  in  the 
color  of  the  skin  of  the  tubers. 


KOHL-RABI—LEEK.  93 

KOHL-RABI,  OR  TURNIP-ROOTED  CABBAGE, 

This  vegetable  belongs  to  the  cabbage  tribe,  but  the 
stem  swells  out,  assuming  a  globular  form  resembling  a 
turnip,  this  being  the  edible  part. 

It  requires  the  same  soil  and  treatment  as  the  turnip, 
and  as  it  does  not  bear  transplanting  well,  it  should  always 
be  raised  from  seeds  sown  in  the  bed  where  it  is  to  be 
grown.  The  soil  should  be  rich  and  mellow,  so  as  to 
induce  a  rapid,  quick  growth,  and  so  produce  a  tender, 
succulent  bulb  stalk,  for  such  it  really  is,  being  simply  an 
adpressed,  enlarged  cabbage  stem. 

The  seed  should  be  sown  in  this  section  during  the 
month  of  June,  but  may  be  sown  in  May  or  July,  accord- 
ing to  latitude.  It  should  be  sown  in  rows  eighteen  inches 
apart,  and  after  the  plants  have  come  up,  they  should  be 
thinned  out  to  ten  or  twelve  inches  apart.  The  after  cul- 
tivation consists  in  keeping  the  beds  well  hoed  and  clear 
of  weeds.  The  proper  time  for  using  the  bulbs  is  when 
they  are  three  or  four  inches  in  diameter. 

There  are  seven  or  eight  varieties  grown,  but  the  best 
for  garden  purposes  is  the  Early  White  Vienna.  Of  this 
there  is  a  purple  variety,  but  it  only  differs  from  the  first 
in  color. 


LEEK 

The  soil  for  this  vegetable  can  scarcely  be  made  too  rich 
and  mellow,  or  kept  too  mellow. 

The  seed  should  be  sown  in  a  seed  bed  hi  good  rich  soil, 
in  a  sheltered  situation,  towards  the  end  of  March  or  early 
in  April,  in  drills  an  inch  deep  and  eight  to  ten  inches 
apart.  The  beds  should  be  kept  scrupulously  clean  of 


9  LETTUCE. 

weeds  and  well  worked.  In  June  or  July  they  should  be 
transplanted  into  the  permanent  bed,  the  rows  being  one 
foot  apart,  and  the  plants  six  inches  apart  on  the  rows. 
This  bed  should  be  well  spaded  to  a  depth  of  ten  or  twelve 
inches.  Great  care  should  be  taken  not  to  injure  the  roots, 
and  the  plants  should  be  set  with  a  large  blunt  dibble,  or 
in  an  open  trench  with  a  spade.  After  the  plants  have 
taken  root,  the  beds  should  be  kept  well  hoed  and  free 
from  weeds. 

If  the  leeks  are  wanted  in  a  blanched  state,  they  may  be 
planted  in  trenches  four  inches  deep,  and  the  earth  gradu- 
ally drawn  into  the  trench  as  the  plants  progress  in  growth. 

In  this  section  they*  are  generally  dug  up  in  November, 
planted  in  trenches,  and  protected  as  celery  is. 

There  are  eight  or  ten  varieties  in  the  seed  catalogues, 
but  the  sorts  most  generally  grown  are  the  London  Flag 
and  the  Musselburgh,  preferably  the  latter.  The  Large 
Rouen  is  a  favorite  French  sort  that  attains  a  great  size. 


LETTUCE. 

The  numerous  varieties  of  lettuce  may  be  divided  into 
two  classes— those  that  are  hardy,  or  comparatively  so, 
suitable  for  winter  use,  and  those  that  are  tender,  and  only 
suitable  for  summer  use. 

The  hardy  sorts  may  be  sown  from  the  first  to  the  mid- 
dle of  September  in  an  open  border  of  rich  soil,  sowing 
thinly  in  drills  six  inches  apart  and  one-quarter  01  an  inch 
deep.  In  about  a  month  or  six  weeks  they  will  be  large 
enough  to  transplant  into  a  cold  frame,  putting  them  about 
two  inches  apart  each  way.  When  cold  weather  sets  in, 
the  sashes  are  to  be  put  on  the  frames,  and  during  the 
winter  all  the  attention  they  will  require  is  to  give  them 


LETTUCE.  95 

plenty  of  air  on  bright  days,  with  a  light  covering  of  straw, 
old  carpet  or  matting  when  the  weather  is  very  severe — as, 
when  the  thermometer  indicates  twelve  or  fifteen  degrees 
of  frost.  They  are  as  hardy  as  cabbage  plants,  but  if  not 
kept  well  aired,  they  become  more  susceptible  to  the  cold 
and  are  less  robust. 

In  the  month  of  March,  or  as  soon  as  the  ground  is  in 
working  order,  these  plants  may  be  transplanted  into  a 
good  rich  warm  border,  and  will  be  fit  to  cut  for  use  in 
May.  They  should  be  planted  in  rows,  twelve  inches  apart 
each  way. 

As  early  cabbages  are  planted  at  the  same  time,  it  is  the 
custom  of  some  of  our  market  gardeners  to  set  them  two 
feet  apart  on  the  row,  and  set  a  lettuce  plant  midway  be- 
tween each,  which  becomes  fit  to  use  long  before  the  cab- 
bage grows  large  enough  to  interfere  with  it;  by  this 
means  much  room  and  some  labor  is  saved. 

Another  mode  is  to  sow  the  seed  very  thinly  in  a  dry, 
warm,  sheltered  bed,  leaving  it  out  all  winter,  but  protect- 
ing it  with  leaves  or  a  sprinkling  of  straw  when  frost  sets 
in.  Some  persons  sow  a  sprinkling  of  seed  along  with 
autumn- sown  spinach,  but  it  repays  the  trouble  to  trans- 
plant them  into  frames,  as  above  directed. 

The  tender  or  summer  lettuce  should  be  sown  in  a  cold 
frame  in  February  or  March,  being  careful  to  keep  the 
frame  well  covered  up  at  night,  but  airing  it  well  during 
the  day,  to  prevent  the.  plants  being  drawn  up.  These 
plants  will  be  ready  to  set  out  in  April  or  May,  or  when 
they  are  about  two  inches  high. 

The  soil  for  lettuce  can  scarcely  be  too  rich,  for  to  have 
it  in  its  greatest  perfection  it  must  be  grown  rapidly.  The 
soil  should  be  well  hoed  every  two,  weeks  after  planting,  aa 
lettuce  thrives  best  in  soil  that  is  frequently  stirred  and 
kept  open. 


96  LETTUCE. 

Lettuce  can  be  forwarded  or  had  very  early  in  the  sea- 
son by  setting  out  the  young  plants  in  February  or  March, 
seven  or  eight  inches  apart,  in  a  cold  frame,  the  soil  hav- 
ing two  or  three  inches  deep  of  rotted  manure  dug  into  it. 
The  frame  should  be  well  covered  up  at  night,  and  air 
given  during  the  middle  of  the  day,  increasing  the  airing 
as  the  season  progresses.  Care  must  be  had  to  water  them 
frequently  with  tepid  water,  so  that  they  may  be  kept  in  a 
constantly  growing  state. 

When  wanted  very  early,  in  the  form  of  leaf  lettuce,  it 
may  be  sown  rather  thickly  broadcast  in  a  hot-bed  in  Feb- 
ruary. When  the  leaves  are  from  three  to  four  inches  high 
it  will  be  fit  to  cut. 

The  best  hardy  sorts  for  winter  frames,  are  the 

Early  Simpson;  a  variety  of  the  curled  Silesia.  It  does 
not  form  a  close,  compact  head,  but  is  very  tender,  of  ex- 
cellent quality,  and  very  early. 

Tennis  Ball;  this  variety  forms  a  close,  hard  head  of 
rather  small  size.  It  is  very  hardy,  and  slow  in  going  to 
seed. 

Hammersmith  Hardy;  this  is  the  hardiest  sort  cul- 
tivated. The  leaves  are  very  succulent,  the  heads  small. 
It  soon  runs  to  seed  in  warm  weather. 

Green  Winter  Cabbage  is  also  a  very  hardy  sort,  does 
not  run  to  seed  readily,  and  forms  a  firm,  solid,  medium- 
sized  hea^. 

For  summer  use  the  best  are  the  Large  India  ;  it  has  a 
very  large,  somewhat  loose  head,  is  very  crisp  and  tender, 
and  withstands  heat  and  dry  weather  admirably. 

Neapolitan  has  a  very  large,  round,  hard,  close  head,  and 
is  very  slow  in  running  to  seed. 

There  is  a  class  of  lettuces  known  as  Coss  Lettuces, 
which  have  long,  straight  leaves,  that  require  to  be  tied 


MARTYNI  A  — MELONS.  97 

up  over  the  head  to  blanch  it.  They  are  much  esteemed  in 
Europe,  "but  in  our  own  climate  quickly  run  to  seed.  They 
should  therefore  be  set  out  very  early  in  the  season,  but 
are  not  sufficiently  hardy  to  whiter  over.  Of  the  many 
varieties  grown  abroad,  the  Paris  Green  Coss  does  the  best 
hi  this  climate. 


MARTYNIA. 

The  long,  horn-shaped  seed-pods  of  this  plant  are  used 
for  pickling  when  in  their  young,  green  state,  and  by 
many  persons  are  preferred  to  cucumbers.  The  seed 
should  be  sown  in  an  open  border  in  April  or  May,  and  hi 
June  should  be  transplanted  into  the  permanent  bed  at  a 
distance  of  two  or  two  and  a  half  feet  apart  each  way. 

It  will  thrive  in  any  good  garden  soil,  but  does  not  need 
to  be  heavily  manured. 


MELONS. 

The  cultivation  of  the  melon  is  in  all  respects  the  same 
as  that  of  the  cucumber,  only  that  they  should  not  be 
planted  less  than  six  feet  apart  each  way.  If  the  growth 
is  very  luxuriant,  the  ends  of  the  leading  shoots  should  be 
pinched  off,  in  order  to  check  the  growth  and  make  the 
fruit  set  better.  The  fruit  also  should  be  thinned  out  if 
too  many  set — it  increases  the  size  and  flavor;  and  four  or 
five  fruits  to  a  plant  are  as  many  as  should  be  allowed  to 
remain.  When  the  fruit  becomes  as  large  as  a  goose  egg, 
it  is  well  to  put  a  shingle,  a  slate  or  some  similar  material 
under  each,  as  it  somewhat  hastens  their  maturity,  and 
renders  them  better  flavored.  An  occasional  watering  of 
guano  water  has  a  tendency  to  increase  the  size  of  the  fruit. 


98  MUSHROOMS. 

Of  the  two  classes  of  melons— namely,  the  yellow-fleshed 
or  Cantaloupes,  and  the  green-fleshed  or  Musk  Melons— 
we  consider  the  latter  as  the  only  class  worth  cultivating 
in  this  country.  The  varieties  are  very  numerous,  but  the 
following  two  are  fully  equal  to  any  of  the  others. 

Steittmaris  Netted  is  of  comparatively  small  size ;  it  is 
early,  very  sugary,  melting  and  high  flavored;  it  is  also  a 
compact  grower. 

Green  Citron  is  of  large  size,  very  sugary,  juicy,  and  of 
delicious  flavor.  It  bears  abundantly  and  is  comparatively 
hardy. 

MUSHROOMS. 

The  cultivation  of  this  delicious  esculent  is  not  often 
attempted  by  amateur  gardeners.  The  old  system  of  cul- 
tivation involved  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  and  had  not  a 
little  of  a  certain  kind  of  mystery,  but  of  late  years  the 
French,  who  grow  large  quantities  of  them,  have  greatly 
simplified  the  process.  One  of  their  modes  is  the  following, 
by  which  any  person  having  a  warm,  dry  cellar,  and  a  sup- 
ply of  fresh  horse  manure,  can  obtain  a  liberal  supply: 

In  an  open  shed,  or  in  any  place  protected  from  heavy 
rains,  ordinary  .fresh  horse  manure,  free  from  rubbish  or 
long  straw,  is  to  be  laid  up  in  beds  of  two  or  more  feet 
thick,  pressing  it  down  with  the  fork  as  it  is  laid  up,  and 
when  finished  treading  it  down  firmly  with  the  feet.  It 
should  then  be  thoroughly  watered  and  again  trodden 
down,  and  left  to  ferment  for  eight  or  ten  days.  At  the 
expiration  of  this  time  it  must  be  turned  over  with  the 
fork  and  made  again  into  a  similar  bed,  care  being  taken 
that  the  outsides  of  the  previous  bed  should  form  the 
centre  of  the  new  bed.  In  another  ten  days  or  a  fortnight 
it  will  be  ready  for  use.  Tubs  are  then  to  be  provided, 


M  USHR  O  QMS. 

which  may  be  done  by  saving  flour  barrels  in  halves  cross- 
wise; and  boring  four  or  five  half  inch  holes  in  the  bottom 
of  each  for  drainage.  Fill  the  tubs  two  or  three  inches 
deep  with  any  good  fresh  garden  soil,  and  add  the  prepared 
manure  until  the  tub  is  half  full.  Place  six  or  seven  pieces 
of  spawn,  each  about  the  size  of  a  hen's  egg,  upon  the 
manure  in  each  tub,  and  fill  the  tub  full  of  manure,  pressing 
it  well  down  and  rounding  off  the  top  dome-shaped.  The 
spawn;  which  may  be  obtained  of  any  of  our  seedsmen, 
comes  in  the  shape  and  size  of  common  bricks.  At  the 
end  of  ten  days,  if  the  spawn  have  taken — which  may  be 
known  by  its  developing  white,  thread-like  filaments— 
cover  it  with  an  inch  or  two  of  fresh  soil  screened  through 
a  coarse  sieve. 

The  tubs,  when  made  up,  should  be  placed  in  a  dark  cel- 
lar, free  from  draughts  of  cold  air,  in  which  the  tempera- 
ture can  be  kept  as  nearly  as  possible  at  50  degrees.  The 
main  points  to  be  attended  to  are  that  the  temperature  of 
the  manure  is  at  its  proper  height  (about  76  degrees  Fahr.) 
when  the  spawn  is  inserted,  and  that  it  should  not  bo 
covered  with  soil  until  the  spawn  is  well  developed.  Should 
the  soil  and  manure  in  the  tubs  become  dry,  they  should  be 
watered  by  sprinkling  them  with  water  at  about  blood-heat 
or  100  degrees. 

In  a  few  days  the  mushrooms  will  show  themselves. 
They  should  be  gathered  every  other  day,  by  breaking  off 
in  the  soil— a  slight  twist  with  the  hand  facilitating  this 
operation.  Never  use  a  knife  to  gather  them,  and  fill  up 
with  fresh  soil  any  hole  that  may  be  made  in  pulling  them. 
They  will  continue  yielding  for  three  or  four  weeks  j  and  a 
second  but  smaller  crop  can  be  obtained  after  the  first  is 
gathered,  by  giving  another  dressing  of  fresh  soil  about 
half  an  inch  thick,  beating  it  down  moderately  with  the 
spado  and  watering  it  with  blood-warm  water. 


100  MUSTARD  —  NASTURTIUM. 

MUSTARD, 

Of  the  two  species  of  cultivated  mustard,  the  white  is 
that  generally  grown  for  garden  purposes.  The  young 
plants,  when  about  three  inches  high,  are  used  as  a  salad, 
ftke  cress,  on  account  of  their  piquancy,  and  the  seeds  are 
used  in  pickles,  to  which  they  impart  a  pungent,  pleasant 
flavor. 

When  grown  for  salading  purposes,  the  seeds  should  be 
thickly  sown  in  the  open  ground  as  early  hi  the  spring  as 
the  season  will  permit,  in  drills  six  inches  apart  and  half 
an  inch  deep.  If  wanted  earlier  they  may  be  sown  in  a 
frame.  A  succession  may  be  kept  up  by  sowing-  every 
week  or  ten  days. 

When  grown  for  the  seeds,  sow  early  in  the  spring,  in 
rows  about  fifteen  inches  apart.  The  seed  should  be  quite 
thinly  sown,  so  that  the  plants  will  not  choke  each  other; 
the  new  crop  will  be  ready  to  gather  by  August. 

Any  good  garden  soil  will  suit  it. 


NASTURTIUM. 

The  unripe  succulent  seed-pods  of  this  well-known  plant 
are  used  for  pickling,  being  an  excellent  substitute  for 
capers.  Any  good  garden  soil  suits  it  j  if  it  is  compara- 
tively poor  it  will  be  for  the  better,  as  the  plant  has  a  ten- 
dency to  run  to  growth  at  the  expense  of  flowering  and 
fruiting  freely. 

The  seeds  should  be  sown  in  May,  in  drills  three  feet 
apart,  and  about  six  inches  apart  on  the  row.  The  plants 
should  have  pea-brush  set  to  them  when  they  are  about  six 
inches  high,  on  which  they  may  climb.  This  preserves  the 
green  seed- pods  from  the  sand  or  soil,  and  from  rotting. 


NEW  ZEALAN'*&PsjA-RJ0J£&A.      101 

The  pods  should  be  gathered  when  of  the  size  of  a  small 
pea ;  if  left  on  the  plant  too  long-  the  seed  within  them  be- 
comes hardened,  which  renders  them  unfit  for  use.  Some- 
times the  young  shoots  are  used  as  a  salad  alone,  or  for 
mixing  with  lettuce. 

The  best  variety  for  kitchen  garden  purposes  is  the  com- 
mon Dwarf. 

NEW  ZEALAND  SPINACH. 

This  is  not  really  a  spinach,  but  its  leaves  are  used  in  the 
same  way.  It  is  very  useful  for  this  purpose,  as  it  grows 
freely,  and  flourishes  under  the  heat  of  our  summer's  sun. 

It  requires  a  rich,  moist,  well-pulverized  soil.  The  seeds 
may  be  sown  in  the  open  ground  from  April  to  July,  in 
drills  three  feet  apart  and  two  inches  deep.  The  plants 
should  be  about  a  foot  apart  on  the  row.  In  five  or  six 
weeks  after  sowing  the  gathering  of  the  leaves  for  use  may 
be  commenced,  taking  care  not  to  injure  the  ends  of  the 
young  shoots.  The  gathering  may  be  continued  until  frost, 
as  the  leaves  retain  then-  succulence  through  the  summer. 

If  the  weather  should  be  very  dry,  give  the  plants  plenty 
of  water. 

Fifteen  or  twenty  plants  will  supply  a  large  family. 


OKEA. 

The  unripe  seed-pods  of  this  plant,  known  in  the  South 
as  Gumbo,  are  used  sliced  up  to  thicken  soups  and  similar 
dishes,  to  which  they  also  impart  a  rich  flavor. 

It  thrives  in  any  good  garden  soil.  The  seed  should  be 
sown  in  May,  in  drills  an  inch  deep  and  two  feet  apart,  two 
or  three  seeds  being  dropped  together  every  foot  of  dis- 
tance on  the  row.  After  the  plants  have  grown  beyond  the 


102  oiti  ox. 

seed  leaf,  thin  them  out  to  single  plants.  Earth  them  up 
slightly  two  or  three  times  during  their  growth. 

The  Dwarf  variety,  growing  from  two  to  two  and  a  half 
feet  high,  is  best  adapted  for  our  northern  climate;  the 
Tall  or  Giant  sort,  growing  five  or  six  feet  high,  taking  up 
too  much  room  in  our  gardens. 

The  pods,  transversely  sliced  and  dried  when  green,  may 
be  kept  for  winter  use. 


ONION. 

Onions  require  a  rich,  finely-pulverized  soil,  in  order  to 
grow  them  to  perfection.  The  ground  should  be  prepared 
as  early  in  the  spring  as  possible,  by  heavily  manuring  it 
with  well-rotted  manure,  digging  and  pulverizing  the  soil  as 
finely  as  possible.  Composted  poultry  manure,  fine  ground 
bone-dust  or  soot,  sown  in  the  drills  and  then  covered  with 
an  inch  or  two  of  soil,  are  excellent  manures  for  this  vege- 
table. A  top  dressing  of  wood  ashes  after  the  plants  are 
well  up  also  assists  their  growth  materially. 

The  seed  should  be  sown  from  the  first  to  the  15th  of 
April,  in  drills  one  inch  deep  and  one  foot  apart ;  a  light 
roller  should  be  run  along  each  drill  as  soon  as  the  seed  is 
covered  in.  When  the  plants  are  well  up,  the  ground 
should  be  well  hoed,  and  the  plants  thinned  out  to  two  or 
three  inches  apart.  The  hoeing  should  be  repeated  two 
or  three  times,  but  discontinued  after  the  bulbs  begin  to 
set,  as  it  is  then  injurious  to  them.  If  weeds  should  then 
make  their  appearance,  they  must  be  removed  by  hand. 

When  the  tops  wither,  which  is  generally  in  August,  the 
bulbs  should  be  pulled  up  and  left  on  the  ground  exposed 
to  the  sun  and  ah*  for  two  or  three  weeks,  in  order  to  well 
dry  them  off;  after  which  they  must  be  kept  in  a  cool,  dry 
cellar,  but  free  from  frost. 


ONION.  103 

If  it  is  desired  to  have  green  onions  very  early  in  the 
spring,  the  seed  should  be  sown  in  August  or  early  in 
September,  and  the  young  onions  protected  on  the  approach 
of  cold  weather  by  having  some  long  litter  thrown  over 
them  along  the  rows. 

Another  mode  of  raising  them  is  from  sets.  These  are 
raised  by  sowing  the  seed,  in  April,  very  thickly,  in  drills 
nine  inches  apart,  in  a  piece  of  poor  or  unmanured  soil, 
for  if  the  bulbs  get  any  larger  than  a  hazel  nut  they  will 
be  very  apt  to  run  to  seed  when  planted  out  for  the  main 
crop.  In  August,  when  ripe,  they  should  be  taken  up  and 
well  dried,  after  which  they  should  be  placed,  with  their 
chaff  skins  on,  on  the  floor  of  a  garret  or  hay-loft,  covering 
them,  when  cold  weather  sets  in,  with  six  or  eight  inches 
of  hay  or  straw.  They  will  keep,  thus  protected,  until 
spring.  In  April  of  the  ensuing  spring  they  are  to  be 
planted  hi  a  piece  of  very  rich  soil  in  rows  twelve  inches 
apart;  a  bulb  being  pressed  into  the  ground  with  the 
thumb  and  forefinger  every  three  inches  on  the  row,  and 
then  rolled  with  a  light  roller  to  set  them  still  more  firmly. 
The  beds  should  be  kept  clean  between  the  rows  by 
occasional  hoeing;  but  all  weeds  growing  "between  the 
bulbs,  or  within  three  or  four  inches  of  them  on  the  rows, 
should  be  removed  hy  hand. 

The  sets  from,  top  onions  are  treated  in  the  same  way. 
They  are  raised  by  planting  the  full  grown  bulbs,  in  the 
spring,  in  rows  fifteen  inches  apart,  and  the  bulbs  ten 
inches  apart.  During  the  summer  they  will  throw  up 
stems,  producing  a  cluster  of  ten  or  twelve  small  bulbs, 
instead  of  a  head  of  flowers  and  seeds.  These  sets  are  to 
be  preserved  over  winter  in  the  same  way  as  sets  raised 
from  seeds,  and  planted  and  treated  the  ensuing  season  in 
the  same  way. 


104  ONION. 

The  potato  onion  increases  by  division  of  the  root.  Small 
bulbs  are  generally  planted  early  in  the  spring  in  rich  soil, 
in  rows  a  foot  apart,  the  bulbs  being  set  six  inches  apart  on 
the  row.  They  should  be  inserted  just  deep  enough  in  the 
soil  to  cover  the  crown,  and  should  be  firmly  set  in  the 
ground.  As  they  grow,  they  split  up  or  divide  into  six  or 
eight  good-sized  bulbs.  They  may  be  planted  in  Septem- 
ber, and  on  the  approach  of  winter  covered  with  a  slight 
covering  of  long  manure,  litter  or  leaves,  removing  the 
covering  as  soon  as  spring  commences.  They  give  a 
larger  crop  when  planted  in  the  autumn  than  when  planted 
in  the  spring. 

There  are  numerous  varieties  of  the  onion  ;  but  the  se- 
lection of  sorts  for  our  climate  may  be  restricted  to  three, 
excluding  top  and  potato  onions. 

The  Wethersfield  Large  Red  is  very  productive  and  an 
excellent  keeper,  but  strong  flavored. 

The  Yellow  Onion,  misnamed  the  Silver  SJcinned  in  New 
England,  is  much  milder  and  sweeter  flavored  than  the 
Large  Red.  It  is  very  productive  and  a  good  keeper. 
There  is  a  sub-variety  of  this,  known  as  the  Danvers  Tel- 
loiv;  it  is  exceedingly  productive,  but  is  not  as  good  a 
keeper. 

The  White  Portugal,  or  Silver  SJcinned,  has  a  pure  white 
skin,  with  the  upper  part  of  the  bulb  veined  with  green. 
It  is  very  mild  flavored  and  productive,  but  is  not  a  good 
keeper,  unless  the  bulbs  are  exposed  to  light  in  a  dry,  airy 
place  free  from  frost.  It  is  largely  used  for  pickling,  for 
this  purpose  being  grown  as  directed  for  sowing  sets,  only 
not  sowing  the  seed  over  half  an  inch  deep;  this  prevents 
the  bulbs  having  thick  necks,  and  makes  them  more  solid 
and  compact. 

Of  the  top  onion  there  are  two  varieties,  the  red  and  the 


OR  ACHE,    OR  FRENCH  SPINACH— PARSLEY.  105 

white.  The  flesh  is  coarser  than  the  seed-bearing  sorts, 
and  the  bulbs  are  not  as  good  keepers,  unless  kept  very 
dry  and  cool. 

There  is  but  one  variety  of  the  top  onion.  It  is  mild, 
sweet  flavored  and  of  excellent  quality.  To  facilitate  its 
keeping  well,  two  or  three  inches  of  the  stem  should  be  left 
on  each  bulb. 

Where,  owing  to  the  effects  of  climate  or  the  persistent 
attacks  of  insects,  onions  cannot  be  successfully  raised  from 
seed,  recourse  must  be  had  to  sets — especially  the  potato 
onion. 


OP-ACHE,  OR  FRENCH  SPINACH, 

This  vegetable  requires  a  rich,  deep,  moist  soil.  The 
leaves  and  tender  stalks  have  a  pleasant,  slightly  acid 
taste,  and « are  cooked  and  used  in  the  same  manner  as 
spinach.  The  cultivation  is  also  the  same.  There  are 
several  varieties,  varying  chiefly  in  the  color  of  the  leaves, 
which,  however,  all  turn  green  when  boiled.  Unless  used 
when  young  and  tender,  the  leaves  are  apt  to  be  tough  and 
stringy. 


PARSLEY. 

Parsley  requires  a  rich  mellow  soil  to  grow  it  in  perfec- 
tion, and  as  the  seed  vegetates  slowly,  especially  in  hot, 
dry  weather,  it  is  important  to  sow  it  as  early  as  possible  in 
April.  The  soil  should  be  deep  and  finely  pulverized,  and 
the  seed  sown  in  drills  a  foot  apart,  and  from  half  an 
inch  to  an  inch  in  depth.  It  is  a  good  practice  to  sow  a 
light  sprinkling  of  radish  seed  with  it,  as  it  vegetates 
quickly,  thus  marking  out  the  rows  to  facilitate  weeding 
and  keeping  the  ground  open. 


106  PARSLEY. 

After  the  plants  are  about  three  inches  high,  thin  them 
out  to  six  or  eight  inches  apart,  and  keep  them  clean  by 
frequent  hoeings. 

To  have  it  for  winter  use,  cut  off  all  the  old  leaves  in  tho 
month  of  September;  the  plants  will  then  make  a  new 
growth  of  leaves.  Some  of  these  roots  should  be  taken  up 
early  in  November,  and  planted  in  a  cold  frame  or  in  boxes 
to  be  placed  in  a  light  dry  cellar ;  the  remainder  may  be 
left  hi  the  rows,  out-of-doors,  protecting  the  plants  with  a 
light  sprinkling  of  straw.  Thus  treated  they  will  be  fit  for 
use  in  the  spring  before  the  new  sowings  are  ready  to  use. 

Some  gardeners  sow  the  seed  in  a  cold  frame  in  April, 
between  the  rows  of  early  lettuce,  and  let  it  remain  there 
during  the  succeeding  summer  and  winter,  cutting  it  off.  as 
before,  early  in  September.  This  method  saves  the  trouble 
of  transplanting  it. 

The  best  sort  for  general  use  is  the  Divarf  Curled.  When 
quantities  are  used  for  garnishing,  and  something  very  ele- 
gant is  desired  for  this  purpose,  the  Moss  or  Fimbriated- 
leavecl  may  be  sown. 

Another  variety  of  parsley,  with  large  fleshy  roots,  known 
as  the  Hamburgh  or  Turnip-rooted  Parsley,  is  grown  for 
the  sake  of  its  roots,  which  are  used  in  soups,  or  as  a  sepa- 
rate dish,  like  carrots  or  parsnips.  The  seed  should  be 
sown  in  April  or  May  in  deep  mellow  soil,  but  not  too  rich, 
in  rows  fourteen  or  fifteen  inches  apart,  thinning  out  tho 
plants  to  six  or  eight  inches  apart,  and  treating  them  after- 
wards as  carrots  or  parsnips.  The  roots  should  be  taken 
up  in  October,  packed  in  sand  or  dry  earth,  and  stored  in 
a  dry  cellar  for  winter  use. 

Still  another  variety,  the  Naples  Parsley,  is  grown  for 
the  same  uses  as  celery.  The  seeds  may  be  sown  in  a  hot- 
bed in  March,  or  in  a  seed  bed  in  the  open  air  in  May. 


PAUSXIP.  107 

When  the  plants  are  four  or  five  inches  high  they  should 
be  transplanted  into  good  rich  soil,  in  trenches  two  feet 
apart  and  six  or  eight  inches  deep,  setting  the  plants  a  foot 
apart.  As  the  plants  grow  the  trenches  are  to  he  gradually 
filled  in  to  blanch  it.  To  preserve  it  for  winter  use,  treat 
it  the  same  as  directed  for  celery. 


PARSNIP. 

The  parsnip  requires  a  deep,  rich  soil,  and  preferably  one 
that  has  been  manured  the  previous  autumn.  The  seeds 
can  be  sown  from  the  middle  of  March  to  the  middle  of 
May;  but  as  the  roots  require  a  long  season  to  enable  them 
to  grow  to  a  good  size,  the  earlier  the  seed  is  sown,  the 
better. 

The  drills  should  be  about  an  inch  deep  and  fourteen  to 
fifteen  inches  apart,  sowing  the  seeds  quite  thickly.  When 
grown  as  a  field  crop,  the  rows  should  be  twenty  inches 
apart,  so  that  they  can  be  readily  worked  with  a  cultivator 
or  horse  hoe.  When  the  plants  are  about  three  inches 
high,  they  should  be  thinned  out  to  six  or  eight  inches 
apart.  The  after  culture  consists  in  keeping  them  entirely 
free  from  weeds  by  frequent  hoeings. 

As  the  parsnip  is  quite  hardy,  such  portion  of  the  crop 
as  may  not  be  wanted  for  winter  use  may  be  left  out  in 
the  ground  all  winter.  Those  that  are  wanted  for  winter 
uso  should  be  taken  up  late  in  the  autumn,  and  stored 
away  in  the  same  manner  as  carrots  or  turnips.  As  the 
roots  descend  to  a  great  depth  into  the  soil,  great  care  is 
necessa>y  in  taking  them  up,  for  if  the  roots  are  broken 
off  where  they  are  of  any  thickness,  they  will  lose  much  of 
their  flavor  and  sweetness. 

The  sorts  generally  grown  are  the  Dutch,  the  Guernsey 


108  PEAS. 

and  the  Hollow-crowned  ;  they  are  very  closely  alike,  and 
appear  to  owe  what  little  distinction  there  may  be  between 
them  to  the  differences  of  soil  in  which  they  may  be  grown. 
The  Hollow-crowned  appears  to  have  a  somewhat  shorter 
and  stouter  root  than  the  others,  and  perhaps  is  to  be  pre- 
ferred on  that  account.  Another  variety,  called  the  Student, 
is  considered  to  be  sweeter  and  milder  flavored  than  the 
others. 


PEAS. 

Peas  do  best  in  light,  warm  soil,  but  will  grow  well  in 
heavier  soils  if  they  are  well  drained.  Well-rotted  horse 
manure  or  fine  bone-dust  suits  them  best.  It  is  preferable 
to  apply  the  horse  manure  the  autumn  previous.  Guano  is 
also  an  excellent  manure  for  them,  when  sown  in  the  drills 
at  the  rate  of  a  pint  to  twenty  feet  of  row,  stirring  it  well 
into  the  soil  for  a  couple  of  inches  in  the  bottom  of  the 
drill. 

The  sowing  of  peas  may  be  commenced  in  March,  or  as 
soon  as  the  ground  is  in  working  order.  If  only  one  or  two 
sorts  are  grown,  a  succession  can  be  had  by  making  sow- 
ings at  intervals  of  twelve  or  fourteen  days.  But  if  several 
sorts,  varying  in  then*  time  of  maturity,  are  sown  at  the 
same  time,  .a  regular  succession  can  be  had  in  that  way. 
There  are  various  ways  of  growing  them— as  in  ridges, 
drills,  single  or  double  rows,  and  with  or  without  sticks  or 
brush.  For  private  gardens,  double  rows  in  drills  are  gen- 
erally adopted  in  this  country,  using  or  not  using  sticks, 
according  to  the  character  of  the  variety  sown. 

The  double  rows  should  be  from  eighteen  inches  to  four 
feet  apart,  according  to  the  height  of  the  variety,  the 
general  rule  being  to  make  the  distances  equal  to  the 


PEAS.  109 

height  to  which  it  grows.  The  two  drills  composing  the 
double  row  should  be  eight  or  nine  inches  apart,  and  about 
three  inches  deep,  the  peas  being  sown  from  half  an  inch 
to  an  inch  apart  on  the  row;  the  early,  small-seeded  varie- 
ties being  sown  closer  than  the  larger- seeded,  tall-growing 
varieties.  Some  of  the  English  growers  sow  them  in  long 
single  rows,  twenty  or  more  feet  apart,  and  not  in  a  suc- 
cession of  rows,  as  they  find  that  the  outside  rows,  when 
planted  in  the  ordinary  way,  always  bear  more  profusely 
than  the  inside  rows.  They  also  stop  or  pinch  off  the  lead- 
ing shoots  when  the  plants  are  about  half  the  height  to 
which  they  usually  attain,  repeating  the  operation  for  two 
or  three  times  after  the  shoot  has  made  three  joints  of 
growth.  This  renders  the  plants  more  stocky,  and  makes 
them  produce  much  larger  crops,  but  also  has  the  effect  of 
retarding  the  crop,  as  the  plants  do  not  set  their  pods 
freely  until  the  stopping  ceases. 

When  the  plants  are  from  four  to  six  niches  high,  they 
should  be  earthed  up,  drawing  the  earth  up  lightly  on  each 
side,  in  such  a  way  as  to  have  the  plants  standing  in  a 
slight  channel  along  the  ridge.  When  the  varieties  grown 
are  such  as  to  require  staking,  this  operation  should  be  done 
before  the  plants  have  grown  tall  enough  to  fall  over.  The 
brush  stake  should  be  set  along  the  middle  of  the  ridge  be- 
tween the  two  rows  of  plants,  and  outside  of  them  on  each 
side  a  shorter  row  of  brush.  Where  brush  is  not  easily  ob- 
tained, stakes  may  be  driven  in,  five  or  six  feet  apart,  and 
lines  of  twine  of  any  kind,  six  inches  apart,  may  be  fasten- 
ed to  the  stakes;  but  brush  is  the  best  when  it  can  be  had. 

If  the  weather  is  very  hot  and  dry,  mildew  is  apt  to 
attack  the  plants  and  destroy  the  crop.  To  destroy  the 
mildew,  dredging  the  foliage  with  flour  of  sulphur  is  the 
best  remedy.  To  prevent  it,  water  the  rows  copiously 


110  PEAS. 

with  water,  preferably  that  in  which  guano  has  been  dis- 
solved in  the  proportion  of  three  half  pints  to  twenty-five 
gallons  of  water. 

The  varieties  of  peas  are  very  numerous,  new  sorts  being 
originated  and  introduced  every  year;  few  of  them,  how- 
ever, hold  then:  place  in  the  catalogues  for  many  years. 
They  may  be  divided  into  two  classes— the  smooth-seeded, 
and  the  wrinkled.  The  first  comprise  as  yet  the  earliest 
varieties ;  but  none  of  them  are  as  large,  sweet  and  high 
flavored  as  the  wrinkled  sorts.  Other  things  being  equal, 
the  smooth-seeded  are  scarcely  worth  growing,  when  the 
wrinkled  sorts  can  be  had.  At  present,  of  the  sorts  most 
highly  recommended  in  the  catalogues,  the  following  sorts 
may  be  selected  as  the  best  early  varieties : 

Carter's  First  Crop;  a  very  early  and  productive  va- 
riety, growing  two  and  a  half  feet  high.  A  smooth  pea. 

Daniel  O'Rourke  ;  very  early  and  productive;  grows 
three  feet  high,  and  is  the  sort  generally  grown  for  the 
early  New  York  market.  Also  a  smooth  pea. 

Laxtorts  Alpha;  an  extra  early  variety  of  its  kind. 
It  is  a  blue,  wrinkled  marrow  pea,  very  productive,  and  of 
excellent  quality.  Grows  three  feet  high. 

McLean's  Little  Gem  ;  is  an  early,  dwarf,  green,  wrin- 
kled marrow  pea,  growing  only  a  foot  high.  It  is  very 
productive  and  of  excellent  flavor. 

McLean's  Blue  Peter ;  is  also  an  early,  blue,  wrinkled 
pea,  prolific,  of  fine  flavor,  and  growing  a  foot  high. 

McLean's  Advance;  is  a  wrinkled  pea  growing  about 
two  feet  high.  It  is  nearly  as  early  as  the  OPRourke,  and 
rich  flavored. 

Later  varieties : 

Champion  of  England;  one  of  the  best  and  most  popular 
of  the  wrinkled  peas,  being  largely  frown  for  the  New 


PEPPERS    OR    CAPSICUMS.  Ill 

York  market.  It  is  very  productive  and  high  flavored; 
growing  five  feet  high. 

Veitck's  Perfection  ;  is  a  rich  flavored  marrow  pea,  very 
productive,  and  one  of  the  best  for  main  or  late  crops. 
Height,  four  feet. 

Blue  Imperial ;  an  old  variety  of  good  flavor  and  yields 
abundantly.  It  is  very  hardy  and  thrives  in  almost  any 
soil;  it  also  withstands  the  heat  better  than  any  other 
variety.  Height,  three  feet. 


PEPPERS  OR  CAPSICUMS. 

These  are  generally  grown  in  our  gardens  for  the  pur- 
pose of  pickling  in  their  green  or  half  ripe  state. 

A  light  sandy  soil  suits  them  best,  but  fair  crops  can  be 
obtained  upon  almost  any  soil,  if  it  is  well  manured  and 
kept  well  stirred  with  the  hoe.  The  seeds  may  be  sown  in 
drills  half  an  inch  deep  and  six  inches  apart,  in  a  hot-bed, 
about  the  first  week  in  April,  or  in  pots  or  boxes  in  a 
kitchen  window,  as  directed  for  egg-plants ;  or  they  may 
be  sown  in  a  warm  border  early  in  May.  When  the  plants 
are  two  inches  high,  they  should  be  planted  out  in  rows  two 
feet  apart,  and  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  inches  apart  on  the 
row.  If  the  fruit  is  not  wanted  early  in  the  season,  the 
seed  may  be  sown  in  the  open  ground  where  they  are  to 
remain,  towards  the  end  of  May,  in  drills  two  feet  apart  and 
half  an  inch  deep,  dropping  three  or  four  seeds  at  the  dis- 
tance apart  the  plants  are  to  stand,  and  when  they  are  an 
inch  or  two  hi^h  pulling  up  all  but  one  plant. 

The  after  culture  consists  in  deep  hoeings  of  the  ground 
and  keeping  it  clear  of  weeds. 

There  are  five  or  six  sorts  generally  grown. 

The  Bell  or  Butt  No?e  is- a  la-rge.  early,  sweet  and  pleas- 


112  P  HTTO  LAC  C  A. 

ant  flavored  variety,  with  less  pungency  than  some  of  the 
other  sorts.  It  can  readily  be  grown  by  sowing  the  seeds  in 
the  open  ground  in  May.  A  sort  known  in  the  seed  cata- 
logues as  the  Sweet  Mountain  appears  to  be  identical  with 
this. 

Cherry  Pepper  is  a  small,  round-fruited,  very  pungent 
variety.  It  requires  to  be  raised  in  a  hot-bed.  There  is 
also  a  yellow-fruited  variety  of  this  sort. 

Long  Red  is  a  long-fruited  sort,  frequently  used  pulver- 
ized, as  a  substitute  for  the  cayenne  pepper  of  commerce. 
It  should  be  raised  in  a  hot-bed.  There  is  also  a  yellow- 
fruited  variety  of  this  sort. 

Squash  Pepper ;  this  sort  is  largely  grown  for  market 
purposes,  being  of  large  size,  and,  when  correct  to  name, 
very  thick-fleshed.  It  is  rather  more  pungent  than  the 
Bell  or  the  Sweet  Spanish.  It  can  be  grown  by  sowing  the 
seed  in  the  open  air  in  May. 

Sweet  Spanish  is  a  large-fruited  sort,  and  very  early.  It 
is  sweet,  mild  and  pleasant  flavored,  with  scarcely  any  pun- 
gency, and  on  that  account  is  preferred  by  many  persons. 
It  succeeds  well  sown  in  the  open  ground  in  May. 


PHYTOLACCA. 

This  is  well  known  throughout  the  country  as  "Garget," 
"Poke-berry"  and  "Pigeon-berry,"  and  is  a  common  weed 
by  road-sides,  waste  places  and  on  newly  burned  pine- 
lands.  It  is,  however,  an  excellent  substitute  for  aspara- 
gus, which  it  resembles  in  taste.  The  young  shoots,  as 
they  appear  in  the  spring,  before  the  leaves  develop,  are 
the  parts  used. 

The  size  and  quality  of  the  shoots  are  much  improved 


POTATO.  1J3 

by  cultivation,  especially  if  they  are  blanched  in  the  same 
way  as  is  directed  for  sea-kale. 

The  berries  and  roots  are  reputed  to  have  medicinal  if 
not  poisonous  qualities;  but  the  young  shoots  are  not  so. 

It  should  bo  grown  in  rich  deep  soil,  the  plants  being 
set  about  twelve  or  fifteen  inches  apart. 


POTATO, 

The  potato  delights  in  a  dry,  light,  loamy  soil,  preferably 
a  fresh  pasture  land  with  the  sod  turned  under  the  , 
autumn  previous  to  planting.  In  stiff,  clayey  soils,  es- 
pecially if  they  have  been  long  under  cultivation,  they  are 
very  liable  to  disease,  to  be  of  inferior  quality  and  lacking 
in  productiveness. 

In  fresh  lauds  they  do-not  require  much  manure,  and  in 
any  soils  dry  or  absorbent  manures  are  the  best.  Such 
as  fine  ground  bone,  superphosphate  of  lime,  ashes,  horn 
shavings  and  comb-makers'  waste.  When  these  cannot 
be  had,  well-rotted  manure,  sea- weed  or  decayed  leaves 
may  be  used.  Fresh,  strong,  stimulating  manures  should 
always  be  avoided;  but  whatever  manure  is  used,  it  should 
be  spread  evenly  over  the  ground,  and  well  plowed  in,  and 
not  put  into  the  drills  or  hills,  as  is  generally  the  practice. 
Whatever  manure  is  used,  it  is  best  to  apply  it  to  the  soil 
and  plow  it  in  the  autumn  previous  to  planting. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  as  to  whether  it  is  best 
to  plant  cut  sets  or  small  whole  tubers,  but  good  crops 
have  been  and  can  be  raised  by  either  method,  provided 
always  that  the  sets  are  cut  from  well  ripened  potatoes,  or 
that  the  small  tubers  are  well  ripened.  This  cannot  be  too 
much  insisted  upon ;  if,  in  either  case,  they  are  not  thor- 
oughly ripened,  the  crop  will  be  reduced  in  yield  and  very 


J14  POTATO. 

liable  to  disease.  Do  not,  from  a  mistaken  economy,  re- 
serve for  sale  or  table  use  the  largest  and  best  potatoes 
and  save  the  poorest  for  planting;  if  you  do,  the  future 
crop  will  certainly  be  inferior  both  in  quality  and  quantity ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  save  the  best  for  your  next  season's 
planting. 

When  sets  are  used,  cut  or  divide  the  potato  so  that  two 
eyes  shall  be  on  each  set,  and  spread  them  out  on  a  floor, 
not  exposed  to  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun,  to  dry,  for  three 
or  four  days  or  a  week. 

For  the  very  early  crop,  the  sets  or  tubers  may  "bo 
planted  as  early  in  April  as  the  ground  is  in  a  dry,  friable 
state ;  the  succession  and  main  crops  may  be  planted  at 
any  time  up  to  the  middle  of  June.  For  garden  purposes, 
drills  are  preferable  to  hills ;  the  drills  being  from  two  and 
a  half  to  three  feet  apart,  and  in  dry;  light  soils  five  or  six 
inches  deep.  In  very  heavy  or  wet  soils  they  should  only 
be  half  this  depth.  Some  cultivators  having  such  soils 
plant  the  sets  on  the  surface  and  draw  the  earth  over  them. 
The  sets  should  be  planted  from  eight  to  ten  inches  apart 
on  the  row.  As  soon  as  the  plants  come  up  the  soil  should 
be  hoed,  and  as  the  plants  continue  to  grow,  up  to  the 
time  of  their  coming  into  flower,  they  should  receive  two 
or  three  earthings  np,  so  as  to  cause  them  to  make  plenty 
of  side  roots,  as  on  the  extremities  of  these  the  tubers  are 
formed.  After  they  commence  to  bloom,  no  further  culti- 
vation is  necessary,  except  to  pull  up  any  tall  weeds  that 
may  show  themselves. 

The  varieties  of  the  potato  can  be  counted  by  the  hun- 
dred. Until  the  past  few  years  we  were  mainly  dependent 
upon  English  cultivators  for  new  varieties,  few  of  which 
succeeded  well  in  our  climate.  Our  own  cultivators  have, 
however,  turned  their  attention  to  originating  new  sorts, 


P  UMPKIN-RADISH.  115 

and  with  such  success  as  to  compete  with  the  English  cul- 
tivators on  their  own  soil,  with  varieties  combining  qual- 
ity and  productiveness.  So  rapidly  does  this  improvement 
progress,  that  it  is  difficult  to  keep  the  run  of  the  new 
sorts  offered  for  sale.  Of  those  introduced  within  the  pasfc 
eight  years  the  following  deserve  especial  notice : 

Early  Rose  has  retained  its  position  as  combining  more 
good  qualities  than  any  other  early  potato.  As  a  later  sort, 
the  Snowflake  promises  to  be  among  late  potatoes  what  the 
Early  Ease  is  among  early  ones.  Among  the  latest  varie- 
ties that  has  come  out  is  the  Alpha,  and  said  to  be  ten  or 
fifteen  days  earlier  than  the  Early  Eose.  It  is  dwarf-grow- 
ing, and  therefore  well  adapted  to  garden  culture.  Extra 
Early  Vermont,  Peerless,  BrowneWs  Beauty,  Comptorfs 
Surprise  and  Late  Eose  are  also  excellent  varieties. 


PUMPKIN. 

The  pumpkin  is  now  seldom  cultivated  as  a  garden  crop, 
being  entirely  superseded  as  a  culinary  vegetable  by  some 
of  the  late  varieties  of  squashes,  which  are  superior  to  it  in 
flavor,  sweetness  and  tenderness  of  flesh.  Their  cultivation 
is  similar  in  all  respects  to  that  of  winter  squashes. 


RADISH, 

To  have  radishes  in  perfection,  they  should  be  grown  in 
a  light  rich  soil,  so  as  to  induce  a  rapid  growth,  which  in- 
creases their  flavor,  and  renders  them  crisp  and  free  from 
stringiness.  They  can  be  grown  on  heavy  soils,  but  are 
then  generally  inferior  to  those  grown  on  light  soil. 

As  they  are  generally  ready  to  pull  for  use  six  weeks 
after  they  are  sown,  they  may  be  sown  broadcast,  or  in  in- 


116  RADISH. 

termediate  rows  between  beets,  cabbages,  early  cauliflow- 
ers, onions  or  lettuce,  without  at  all  interfering  with  or 
producing  any  injury  to  the  main  crop. 

Where  a  regular  bed  of  them  is  required,  a  warm,  shel- 
tered border  may  be  prepared  by  manuring,  digging  and 
well-pulverizing  the  soil  about  the  middle  of  March,  or  as 
soon  thereafter  as  the  weather  permits,  and  sowing  some 
Scarlet  Short  Top  or  Turnip-rooted  Radish  seed,  either 
broadcast  or  in  drills  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch  deep 
and  six  or  eight  inches  apart.  If  sown  broadcast,  the  seed 
should  be  evenly  raked  in.  To  keep  up  a  succession,  make 
sowings  at  intervals  of  ten  days  or  a  fortnight  up  to  the 
middle  of  May.  If  they  are  wanted  after  this,  what  are 
known  as  summer  varieties  should-be  sown  up  to  the  mid- 
dle of  August.  After  that,  until  the  first  of  October,  the 
autumn  sorts  should  be  sown,  either  hi  separate  beds  or 
in  the  spaces  between  other  vegetables  sown  during  the 
late  summer  or  early  autumn. 

If  wanted  very  early,  they  may  be  readily  grown  in 
frames,  sowing  the  seed  about  the  middle  of  February,  and 
protecting  the  frames  from  frost  at  night  by  suitable  cov- 
erings, giving  plenty  of  air  in  the  middle  of  the  day  and 
watering  sparingly.  The  turnip-rooted  sorts  are  best  for 
growing  in  frames,  as  they  bulb  quickly. 

The  sorts  most  generally  grown  for  spring  use  are  the 
Long  Scarlet  Short  Top,  the  Bed  and  the  White  Turnip- 
rooted,  and  the  Scarlet  Olive-shaped,  the  latter  being  very 
early  and  crisp,  and  to  be  preferred  for  the  first  crop.  For 
summer  use,  the  Gray  and  the  Yellow  Turnip-rooted  should 
be  used.  They  should  be  used  before  attaining  thoir  full 
size ;  they  are  best  when  not  exceeding  an  inch  in  diam- 
eter. For  winter  use,  the  Slack  Spanish,  the  White  Span- 
ish, and  the  Hose-colored  Chinese  are  the  best ;  but  they 


RHUBARB.  117 

are  not  generally  eaten  out  of  hand,  being  usually  sliced, 
and  served  with  vinegar  and  oil  as  a  root  salad.  These 
winter  varieties  can  be  preserved  for  winter  use  by  gather- 
ing them  before  frost  sets  in,  cutting  off  the  tops,  and 
packing  the  roots  in  boxes  filled  with  earth  or  sand,  and 
kept  in  a  cellar  free  from  frost.  Before  using  them,  they 
should  be  soaked  in  water  for  an  hour  or  two,  in  order  to 
restore  their  crispness. 

Another  species  of  radish  has  of  late  years  come  into  use. 
It  is  known  as  the  Hat-tailed  Radish,  from  the  appearance 
of  the  long  seed-pods,  which  are  used  for  pickling.  The 
pods,  when  full-grown,  are  from  two  to  three  feet  long, 
but  are  used  when  only  half  grown,  tender  and  succulent. 
They  make  a  very  pleasant,  agreeable  pickle ;  they  may 
also  be  eaten  hi  a  raw  state,  and  are  excellent  stewed  or 
boiled. 


RHUBARB. 

The  rhubarb  of  our  gardens  is  grown  for  the  leaf  stalks, 
which  are  used  instead  of  gooseberries  for  pies,  tarts  and 
other  culinary  purposes. 

It  requires  a  very  deep,  rich  soil,  and  can  scarcely  be  too 
highly  manured  or  too  deeply  cultivated.  It  is  propagated 
either  from  seeds  or  from  division  of  the  roots.  The  seeds 
should  be  sown  in  good  rich  soil,  in  April,  in  drills  an  inch 
deep  and  a  foot  apart,  thinning  out  the  plants,  when  three 
or  four  inches  high,  to  eight  or  nine  inches  apart.  The  en- 
suing autumn  or  spring  they  may  be  planted  out  into  a 
permanent  bed,  which  has  been  trenched  two  feet  deep 
and  very  highly  manured;  the  plants  being  set  three  feet 
apart  each  way.  When  propagated  from  established  roots, 
they  may  be  divided,  reserving  one  or  more  eyes  to  each 


118  RHUKAZE. 

division,  either  in  the  autumn  or  in  the  spring,  and  plant- 
ing them  in  the  same  way  as  seedling  plants.  The 'after 
culture  consists  in  keeping  the  bed  clear  of  weeds,  forking 
in  a  top  dressing  of  manure  every  spring,  and  cutting  off 
the  flower  stems  as  they  appear.  If  these  are  permitted  to 
grow,  they  weaken  the  plant  and  reduce  the  size  of  the 
leaves  and  leaf  stalks.  For  the  same  reason  no  leaves 
should  he  gathered  the  first  year  and  only  a  few  the  second 
year;  after  that  the  crop  may  be  more  freely  gathered. 
In  gathering  the  leaves,  they  should  be  pulled  off  vertically, 
and  not  cut  or  broken  off,  as  the  part  left  rots  and  injures 
the  crown  of  the  plant. 

Ehubarb  may  be  forwarded  and  had  much  earlier  in  the 
season,  by  placing  over  each  plant,  in  February  or  March, 
an  empty  barrel,  and  surrounding  it  with  a  bed  of  leaves  or 
long  manure  two  or  three  feet  thick.  By  this  process  the 
stems  are  blanched,  and  become  very  crisp  and  tender,  but 
lose  their  flavor  to  some  extent.  It  scarcely  repays  the 
trouble  of  doing  it,  except  in  having  an  out-of-season 
luxury. 

For  family  use  the  large,  coarse-growing  sorts  are  not 
as  desirable  as  those  which  are  of  smaller  growth,  but 
higher  flavor,  and  more  tender  and  succulent.  The  fol- 
lowing two  varieties  are  the  only  ones  we  recommend  for 
private  gardens: 

MyaWs  Linnceus;  is  an  early,  medium-sized  variety,  of 
fine  flavor,  and,  comparatively  with  many  other  sorts,  of 
less  acidity. 

Early  Prince  Imperial;  is  an  early  medium-sized  variety 
of  high  flavor ;  it  turns  red  in  cooking,  becoming  as  red  as 
currant  jelly,  which  makes  it  very  desirable  for  stewing. 
This  is  probably  the  Prince  Albert  of  some  growers.  It 
is  grown  about  Boston  chiefly. 


2130LE  —  RUTA-BAGA.  119 

Tiic  outer  skin  of  both  these  varieties  is  so  thin  and  deli- 
cate, that  it  ia  not  necessary  to  remove  it  in  preparing  it 
for  cooking. 


ROCAMBOLE, 

This  is  a  vegetable  of  the  onion  family,  resembling  garlic, 
but  having  smaller  bulbs;  it  is  milder  and  sweeter  fla- 
vored than  garlic. 

It  is  very  hardy,  and  is  increased  either  by  seeds,  by  sep- 
aration of  the  bulbs,  or  by  the  rocamboles,  or  small  bulbs 
produced  upon  the  flower  stem  of  the  plant.  The  seeds 
may  be  sown  and  treated  the  same  as  onions.  The  sets  or 
cloves  of  the  bulb  are  cultivated  in  the  same  way  as  shal- 
lots, described  in  another  place. 


RUTA-BAGA, 

The  ruta-baga,  or  Swedish  turnip,  is  not  really  a  turnip, 
but  belongs  to  a  different  species  of  the  Brassica  family. 
It  is  analogous  to  the  kohl-rabi,  only  that  the  root,  and 
not  the  stem,  is  developed  into  a  large  fleshy  bulb. 

It  requires  a  deep,  rich,  mellow  soil,  which  should  be 
well  pulverized  before  sowing  the  seed.  It  delights  in  a 
fresh  soil,  but  when  manured  should  have  well-rotted 
manure  or  fine  ground  bone.  When  grown  for  farming  pur- 
poses it  is  sown  about  the  middle  of  May,  but  when  grown 
for  table  use,  it  may  be  sown  any  time  during  the  month 
of  July,  as  it  is  not  necessary  to  have  as  large  roots  for  the 
kitchen  as  for  stock-feeding,  and,  besides,  the  later  sown 
and  smaller  roots  are  more  succulent  and  tender. 

The  drills  should  bo  fifteen  or  sixteen  inches  apart  and 
half  an  inch  deep.  When  the  plants  arc  in  their  second  or 
third  leaf,  they  should  be  thinned  out  by  the  hoe  to  ten  or 


120  SALSIFY   Oil    OYSTER   PLANT. 

twelve  inches  apart,  giving  the  soil  between  the  rows  a 
good  stirring  at  the  same  time,  repeating  it  five  or  six 
weeks  afterwards,  or  as  often  as  may  be  necessary  to  keep 
down  the  weeds. 

As  the  seed  germinates  very  quickly,  and  is  very  liable 
to  be  eaten  off  by  the  turnip  fly,  the  drills,  after  the  seeds 
are  covered  in,  should  be  well  dusted  with  soot,  lime,  or  to- 
bacco dust,  mixed  with  an  equal  quantity  of  dry  ashes, 
repeating  the  dusting  every  morning  and  evening  for  a 
week ;  a  peck  a  day  would  suffice  for  an  acre  of  ground. 

There  are  numerous  varieties  of  the  ruta-baga,  but  the 
sort  best  adapted  in  this  country  for  garden  cultivation  is 
the  Improved  American. 


SALSIFY  OR  OYSTEE  PLANT. 

Salsify  is  sometimes  called  oyster  plant,  from  a  fancied 
resemblance  of  the  flavor  of  the  root,  when  cooked,  to  that 
of  cooked  oysters.  The  roots  are  white,  and  resemble 
small  carrots  in  size  and  shape. 

It  requires  a  good  mellow,  rich  soil,  well  pulverized  to 
a  depth  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  inches.  The  seeds  should  be 
sown  in  April  or  May,  in  drills  an  inch  deep  and  twelve  to 
fourteen  inches  apart.  When  the  plants  are  two  or  three 
inches  high,  they  should  be  thinned  out  to  six  inches  apart. 
The  after  cultivation  is  the  same  as  that  for  parsnips. 
As  the  seed  does  not  ripen  evenly,  much  of  it  does  not 
vegetate;  it  is  th3refore  necessary  to  sow  it  somewhat 
thickly. 

Salsify  is  quite  hardy,  and  can  therefore  be  left  in  the 
ground  all  winter,  but  to  have  a  supply  during  the  winter, 
a  sufficient  quantity  should  be  taken  up  late  in  the  autumn, 
and  stored  in  moist  sand  or  earth  in  a  dry,  cool  cellar. 


SCOLTMTJS—SCOBZONEEA.  121 

The  young  shoots  from  plants  that  have  been  left  out 
all  winter,  as  they  shoot  up  in  the  spring,  are  sometimes 
cut  and  used  as  asparagus,  which  they  somewhat  resemble 
in  flavor  j  but  the  roots  are  the  part  chiefly  used  for  culin- 
ary purposes. 

There  is  a  popular  notion  that  this  vegetable  is  peculiarly 
suited  for  consumptive  persons ;  but  whether  it  is  correct 
or  not,  we  are  unable  to  say.  The  notion  probably  arises 
from  the  resemblance  of  its  flavor  to  that  of  oysters,  they 
being  frequently  recommended  as  an  article  of  diet  to  per- 
sons suffering  from  that  disease. 


SCOLYMTTS. 

This  vegetable  resembles  the  salsify,  and  by  some  is 
called  the  Spanish  Oyster  Plant.  It  requires  the  same  soil 
and  cultivation  as  the  salsify. 

The  roots  are  considered  to  be  very  healthful  and  nutri- 
tious, and  also  are  very  delicate  and  pleasant  flavored. 
This  vegetable,  scorzonera  and  salsify  are  not  as  much  cul- 
tivated as  they  ought  to  be,  as  they  furnish  a  very  agree- 
able variety  to  our  stock  of  whiter  vegetables,  and,  withal, 
are  of  very  easy  culture. 


SCORZONERA. 

The  roots  of  this  plant  closely  resemble  salsify,  but  are 
black  on  the  outside  and  somewhat  smaller.  The  cultiva- 
tion is  the  same  as  that  of  salsify  or  carrots. 

The  outer  black  rind  of  the  roots  should  be  scraped  off, 
and  the  roots  soaked  in  water  for  two  or  three  hours  before 
cooking  them,  in  order  to  extract  an  unpleasant,  bitter 
taste  which  they  otherwise  would  have.  They  are  then 
much  like  salsify  in  flavor. 


122  SEA-KALE. 

SEA-KALE. 

This  delicious  vegetable  is  not  much  grown  in  this  coun- 
try, but  is  well  worth  cultivation.  It  can  be  grown  either 
from  cuttings  of  the  roots  or  from  seeds. 

It  likes  a  deep  sandy  loam,  highly  manured  and  well 
trenched,  as  its  roots  penetrate  deeply  into  the  soil.  The 
seeds  may  be  sown  either  in  October  or  early  in  the  spring, 
in  hills  two  feet  apart  in  row  and  three  feet  between  the 
rows.  Sow  six  or  eight  seeds  an  inch  and  a  half  or  two 
inches  deep  in  each  hill,  and  when  the  plants  are  well  up, 
thin  them  out  to  three  or  four  in  each.  When  grown  from 
cuttings  of  the  roots,  cut  up  some  old  roots  into  pieces 
three  or  four  inches  long,  and  plant,  in  March  or  April, 
three  or  four  inches  deep,  in  hills,  as  directed  for  those 
grown  from  seeds.  They  may  also  be  grown  in  rows  three 
feet  apart,  and  the  plants  set  eighteen  inches  apart  on  the 
row.  In  this  case  it  is  well  to  sow  the  seeds  or  plant  the 
cuttings  in  a  nursery  bed,  setting  them,  or  thinning  them 
out  to  six  or  eight  inches  apart,  and  transplanting  them 
the  following  spring. 

In  the  autumn,  when  the  leaves  have  decayed,  the  plants 
should  have  a  covering,  four  to  six  inches  thick,  of  manure, 
leaves  or  sea- weed ;  this  protects  them  from  the  bad  effects 
of  freezing  and  thawing,  and  causes  them  to  start  earlier 
in  the  spring.  When  the  frost  is  out  of  the  ground,  this 
may  be  taken  off,  or,  if  rotten  enough,  may  be  forked  in. 
The  plants  are  then  to  be  covered  to  a  depth  of  ten  or 
twelve  inches  with  sand,  peat  or  some  similar  material,  to 
blanch  the  shoots  as  they  grow.  Some  invert  large  gar- 
den pots  over  the  plants  and  blanch  them  in  that  way.  In 
three  or  four  weeks  after  this  is  done  the  shoots  will  prob- 
ably be  fit  to  cut ;  but  this  should" not  be  done  until  they 


SHALLOT.  123 

are  four  or  five  inches  in  length.  The  cutting  may  be  con- 
tinued until  the  flower  heads  form,  and  these  may  be  used 
as  broccoli  after  they  have  made  some  growth  in  the  open 
air,  when  they  form  a  small  head  resembling  a  broccoli  or 
a  cauliflower. 

The  cutting  should  not  be  too  close,  especially  for  the 
first  year  or  two,  as  it  has  a  tendency  to  weaken  the  plants. 
It  is  well  to  only  blanch  every  other  row  eaph  year,  in 
order  that  the  plants  may  have  an  opportunity  to  recuper- 
ate, for  strong  roots  can  only  be  had  by  strong,  healthy 
foliage.  To  the  same  end,  the  plants  should  never  be 
allowed  to  go  to  seed.  Sea-kale,  like  asparagus,  is  a  sea- 
shore plant — hence  a  top  dressing  of  salt,  as  directed  for  the 
latter  vegetable,  is  of  service  to  it. 

There  are  no  varieties  of  it. 


SHALLOT, 

The  shallot  is  a  species  of  onion,  the  root  of  which  is 
composed  of  numerous  small  bulbs,  united  at  their  base 
and  covered  with  a  thin  skin.  It  is  chiefly  used  in  a  green 
state,  early  in  the  spring. 

It  thrives  in  any  soil  suitable  for  the  onion,  preferring, 
however,  a  light,  warm  soil.  It  is  chiefly  grown  by  divid- 
ing the  bulbs  and  planting  the  offsets.  These  should  be 
planted  with  a  dibble  or  trowel,  in  rows  twelve  inches 
apart,  and  four  to  six  inches  distant  on  the  rows,  the  holes 
being  two  or  three  inches  deep.  When  wanted  for  early 
spring  use,  they  are  planted  towards  the  end  of  August  or 
early  in  September,  and  are  left  in  the  open  ground  all 
winter.  They  may  also  be  planted  in  April  for  later  use. 
When  the  tops  die  off,  the  bulbs  should  be  taken  up,  well 


124  SO  RRE  L  —  SKIR  R  E  T. 

dried,  and  kept  in  a  warm,  dry  place  j  damp  and  cold  cause 
them  to  decay  rapidly. 

There  are  five  or  six  varieties,  but  none  of  them  are  bet- 
ter than  the  common  sort. 


SORREL. 

Sorrel  is  used  abroad,  especially  in  Germany  and  France, 
as  freely  as  spinach  is  with  us.  It  is  considered  to  be  a 
very  healthful  vegetable,  of  strong  alterative  powers,  and 
of  great  service  to  those  who  live  largely  on  salt  provisions. 

The  seed  should  be  sown  in  April  or  May,  in  drills  half 
an  inch  deep  and  fifteen  to  eighteen  inches  apart.  The 
young  plants  should  be  thinned  out  to  ten  or  twelve  inches 
apart,  and  by  July  or  August  the  leaves  will  be  fit  to  cut. 
When  the  flower  stems  show  themselves,  they  should  be 
cut  out,  so  as  to  encourage  the  development  of  the  leaves. 

The  plant  is  perennial,  and  thrives  in  any  good  moist 
garden  soil.  In  winter  it  is  well  to  give  it  a  light  protec- 
tion of  strawy  stable  manure,  forking  it  in  early  in  the 
spring. 

There  are  several  varieties  of  it,  but  the  sort  most  general- 
ly esteemed  in  Paris  is  the  Belleville,  or  Broad-leaved  Sorrel. 


SKIREET. 

This  vegetable,  though  formerly  much  esteemed,  is  now 
not  much  cultivated,  being  superseded  by  salsify  and  scor- 
zonera,  to  which  it  is  fully  equal,  if  not  superior.  It  has 
much  the  taste  of  a  parsnip,  and  by  many  is  preferred  to 
it.  The  roots  are  the  parts  used ;  they  are  of  a  russet  color 
on  the  outside,  and  white  within,  and  when  well  grown  are 
six  or  eight  inches  long  and  about  an  inch  in  diameter. 

It  succeeds  best  in  a  light,  mellow,  moist  soil.  The  seeds, 
which  sometimes  take  four  or  five  weeks  to  vegetate, 


SPINACH.  125 

should  be  sown  early  in  April,  in  drills  a  foot  apart  and  an 
inch  deep.  The  plants  should  be  thinned  out  to  five  or  six 
inches  apart.  The  after  culture  is  the  same  as  for  salsify. 
In  September  or  October  the  roots  •will  be  fit  for  use. 
Those  required  for  winter  use  should  be  taken  up  before 
frost  sets  in,  packed  in  sand,  and  kept  in  a  cool,  dry  cellar. 
There  are  no  varieties  of  it. 


SPINACH. 

Spinach,  to  be  grown  in  perfection,  requires  a  very  highly 
manured  soil,  so  as  to  make  it  develop  large  succulent 
leaves.  It  can  be  grown  both  as  an  early  spring  and  a 
summer  crop.  When  taken  off  in  the  spring,  it  leaves  the 
soil  in  excellent  condition,  without  any  further  manuring, 
for  beets,  carrots,  parsnips  or  turnips. 

For  spring  use,  the  seed  should  be  thinly  sown  from  the 
first  to  the  end  of  September,  in  well  prepared  soil,  in  drills 
an  inch  deep  and  a  foot  apart.  When  cold  weather  sets  in 
it  should  have  a  slight  covering  of  straw  or  salt  hay,  more 
to  prevent  the  effects  of  freezing  and  thawing  than  to  pro- 
tect it  from  frost,  as  it  is  quite  hardy.  For  summer  use 
the  seed  should  be  sown  in  March  or  April.  Some  garden- 
ers sow  it  between  their  rows  of  early  cabbages,  as  it  be- 
comes fit  to  cut  in  five  or  six  weeks  after  being  sown.  To 
assist  it  in  making  a  rapid  growth  it  should  be  frequently 
hoed. 

If  wanted  during  the  winter,  it  may  be  cut  on  a  mild 
day,  sprinkled  with  water,  put  into  a  box  or  barrel,  and 
placed  in  a  cool  but  not  freezing  cellar.  In  this  way  it  may 
be  kept  for  ten  days  or  a  fortnight. 

There  are  several  varieties,  but  the  best  two  for  private 
gardens  are  the  Flanders  and  the  Large  Prickly -seeded. 
The  first  is  very  bushy  and  produces  very  large  leaves  j 


126  SQUASH— SWEET  POTATO. 

the  plants  should  be  thinned  out  to  six  or  eight  inches 
apart.  The  last,  not  producing  such  large  leaves,  should  be 
thinned  out  to  four  or  five  inches  apart.  It  is  also  slower 
in  running  to  seed  than  the  Flanders. 


SWASH, 

Squash  seeds  should  be  sown  in  May  or  June,  in  hills,  as 
directed  for  cucumbers  and  melons,  their  after  culture 
being  the  same.  The  bush  sorts  should  be  sown  in  hills 
three  or  four  feet  apart;  the  running  sorts  in  hills  six  to 
ten  feet  apart,  according  to  the  nature  of  their  growth. 
Five  or  six  seeds  should  be  sown  hi  each  hill,  and  care  be 
had  to  keep  off  the  striped  bug ;  after  the  plants  are  past 
danger  they  may  be  thinned  out  to  two  or  three  plants  in 
a  hill. 

For  early  use  the  White  and  the  Yellow  Scalloped  Bush 
varieties,  with  the  Summer  Bush  crook-necked,  are  the 
best.  For  late  summer,  autumn  and  winter  use,  the  Boston 
Marrow,  the  Turban  or  Acorn,  the  Yokohama  and  the 
Httbbard  are  the  best,  the  latter  keeping  into  the  late 
spring. 

In  keeping  winter  squashes,  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
that  they  should  "be  kept  from  cold  or  dampness,  and  the 
flower  end  should  never  be  set  under,  as  they  soon  decay 
when  this  is  not  exposed  to  the  air. 


SWEET  POTATO. 

The  sweet  potato  requires  a  light,  warm,  rich  soil;  in 
heavy  soils  it  does  not  succeed.  In  this  latitude  it  is  prop- 
agated by  planting  the  tubers,  in  April,  in  a  moderate 
hot-bed.  The  tubers,  uncut,  should  be  placed  three  or 
four  inches  apart,  with  two  or  three  inches  of  sand  or  soil 
under  them,  and  covered  with  three  inches  of  light,  rich 


SWISS    CHAKD.  127 

soft.  In  about  a  mouth  they  will  start  into  growth,  and 
when  the  shoots  or  sprouts  are  about  four  inches  long 
above  the  ground,  they  may  be  taken  off  and  transplanted 
into  the  open  ground.  The  tubers  will  throw  up  a  suc- 
cession of  shoots,  so  that  three  or  four  sets  of  them  can  be 
had  for  planting. 

The  sprouts  may  either  be  set  out  in  ridges  or  in  hills. 
In  the  former  case,  the  rows  should  be  four  feet  apart,  and 
the  plants  twelve  or  fifteen  inches  apart  on  the  row.  When 
planted  in  hills,  they  should  be  four  feet  apart  each  way, 
allowing  three  plants  to  a  hill,  putting  a  shovelful  of 
rotted  manure  in  each  hill.  The  sprouts  should  be  set  one- 
third  to  one-half  their  entire  length  and  watered  when 
set  out,  continuing  the  watering  occasionally  if  the  weather 
is  dry.  They  should  be  kept  clear  of  weeds  until  the  plants 
begin  to  cover  the  ground. 

A  hot-bed,  five  feet  square,  planted  hi  April  with  tubers, 
will  furnish  enough  of  plants  to  yield  twelve  or  fifteen 
bushels  of  potatoes.  They  may  be  set  out  towards  the 
end  of  May  or  any  time  during  the  month  of  June.  To 
preserve  them  in  winter,  they  should  be  stored  in  boxes  or 
barrels  with  sand,  and  kept  in  a  warm,  dry  place;  cold 
and  damp  cause  them  to  decay. 

There  are  eight  or  nine  varieties;  but  for  cultivation  in 
our  northern  latitudes,  the  Nansemond,  a  yellow  sort,  and 
the  Red-skinned,  are  the  best  two.  They  aro  hardier  and 
earlier  than  most  of  the  other  sorts. 


SWISS  CHARD. 

This  is  a  species  of  beet,  producing  large,  strong  leaves 
with  thick  midribs,  and  small  roots  not  useful  for  culinary 
purposes.  The  thin  portions  of  the  leaves,  and  the  leaves 


128  TARE  A  a  ON—  TO  MA  TO. 

themselves,  when  young,  are  used  as  greens  or  spinach, 
and  the  midribs  as  asparagus.  It  withstands  the  heat  of 
our  summers,  and  is  a  very  useful  vegetable,  not  as  much 
grown  as  it  should  be. 

The  soil  should  be  tolerably  rich,  so  as  to  encourage  a 
quick,  succulent  growth.  The  seed  may  be  sown  any  time 
in  April  or  May,  in  drills  eighteen  inches  apart  and  an 
inch  and  a  half  deep.  When  the  plants  are  about  three 
inches  high,  they  should  be  thinned  out  to  ten  or  twelve 
inches  apart,  and  treated  like  the  common  red  beet. 

There  are  five  or  six  sorts,  but  the  best  is  the  Silver- 
leave^  or  true  Swiss  Chard. 


TARRAGON. 

Tarragon  is  a  hardy  perennial  plant,  grown  chiefly  for 
its  leaves  and  the  tips  of  the  young  shoots,  which  are 
chiefly  used  for  flavoring  stews,  soups,  salads,  pickles  and 
vinegar.  As  it  seldom  produces  seeds,  it  is  generally  prop- 
agated by  division  of  the  roots.  These  should  be  set  out 
in  any  good  garden  soil,  in  April,  in  rows  fifteen  inches 
apart,  and  the  plants  set  ten  or  twelve  inches  apart  on  the 
row,  covering  the  sets  two  or  three  inches  deep. 

If  seed  can  be  obtained,  it  should  be  sown  in  April  or 
May,  in  a  cold  frame  or  in  a  nursery  bed.  The  drills  should 
be  six  or  eight  inches  apart,  and  when  the  plants  are  three 
or  four  inches  high  they  should  be  set  out  as  directed  for 
the  roots. 

TOMATO. 

To  have  tomatoes  early  in  the  season,  it  is  necessary  to 
sow  the  seed  in  drills  six  inches  apart  and  half  an  inch 
deep,  in  a  moderate  hot-bed,  early  in  the  month  of  March. 
In  four  or  five  weeks  the  plants  may  be  transplanted  into 


T  0  U  A  TO.  129 

a  frame  four  to  six  inches  apart,  and  will  then  make  nice, 
st*cky  plants  for  setting  out  in  the  open  ground  about  the 
middle  of  May.  Where  there  is  not  the  convenience  of  a 
hot-bed,  the  seeds  may  be  sown  in  a  box,  covered  with  a 
pane  of  glass,  and  set  in  a  kitchen  window ;  these  will 
come  forward  nearly  as  fast  as  when  sown  in  a  hot-bed. 

For  later  use,  the  seeds  may  be  sown  in  the  open  ground, 
in  a  warm,  sheltered  border,  early  in  May,  when  the  plants 
will  be  ready  to  transplant  early  in  June. 

They  should  be  planted  in  hills  from  three  to  four  feet 
apart  each  way,  a  spadeful  of  well-rotted  manure  being- 
mixed  in  each  hill.  Some  persons  train  them  on  lath 
trellises,  some  stake  them  with  pea-brush,  and  others - 
train  them  within  hoops,  all  of  which  give  an  amount  of 
trouble  which  the  generality  of  people  do  not  like  to  incur. 
In  order  to  keep  the  fruit  clean,  to  prevent  its  rotting  and 
to  forward  its  ripening,  it  is  necessary  to  keep  it  from 
laying  in  direct  contact  with  the  earth ;  this  is  easily  done 
by  laying  around  the  hills  a  thickness  of  two  or  throe 
inches  of  small  twig  brush,  which  will  keep  the  fruit  from 
the  soil.  When  the  plants  are  about  a  foot  high,  they 
should  be  earthed  up. 

The  varieties  are  very  numerous,  and  every  season  one 
or  more  new  sorts  are  introduced  to  public  notice  as  being 
superior  to  any  that  have  preceded  them,  but  not  one  in 
ten  becomes  a  standard  sort.  The  best  early  variety  is  the 
Early  Smooth  Red;  for  the  general  crop  the  Trophy  is  the 
best ;  for  making  catsup  or  preserving,  we  think  highly  of 
the  Feejee,  or  Lester's  Perfected,  as  it  is  very  solid,  contains 
less  fluid  than  any  other  sort,  and  is  of  most  excellent 
flavor.  It  is  quite  a  late  sort.  For  pickling,  the  Pear- 
shaped  and  the  Yellow  Plum  are  the  best. 

To  get  or  keep  an  early  yield  of  any  variety  of  tomato, 
the  first  ripened  fruits  should  be  reserved  for  seed. 


130  TURNIP—  WAT EE-C  RE  S3, 

TURNIP. 

To  have  early  turnips,  the  seed  should  be  sown  from 
early  in  April  until  the  middle  oi  May,  in  drills  half  an 
inch  deep  and  twelve  to  fifteen  inches  apart,  the  plants 
being  thinned  out  to  six  or  eight  inches  apart.  For  the 
early  crops  the  soil  should  be  warm  and  light,  but  the  late 
crops  can  be  grown  on  heavy  soil.  In  either  case  the  land 
must  be  well  manured.  For  the  autumn  crops,  the  seed  can 
be  sown  from  the  end  of  July  until  the  end  of  August.  About 
a  month  after  the  plants  are  up  they  should  be  well  hoed, 
and  the  operation  repeated  in  three  or  four  weeks  after- 
wards, as  this  makes  them  grow  rapidly. 

There  are  a  great  number  of  varieties  of  turnips,  but  for 
general  use,  both  for  an  early  crop  as  well  as  for  a  late 
crop,  there  is  none  equal  to  the  Red- topped  Strap-leaved 
among  the  white-fleshed  sorts,  and  the  Golden  Sail  and 
the  Yellow  Finland  among  the  yellow-fleshed  sorts. 


WATER-CRESS. 

Water- cress  requires  a  clear  running  stream  and  a  grav- 
elly soil.  The  roots  should  be  planted  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  in  slow-running  streams,  where  the  water  is  from 
three  to  eight  inches  deep.  When  the  roots  are  well  es- 
tablished the  plants  will  rapidly  increase,  and,  by  their 
natural  process  of  seed -sowing  and  spreading  of  the  roots, 
they  will  soon  cover  the  surface  of  the  stream.  When 
planted,  the  rows  should  be  planted  parallel  with  the 
course  of  the  stream,  about  eighteen  inches  apart.  The 
plants  should  always  be  cut,  not  broken  off,  as  breaking 
them  off  is  injurious  to  the  plants.  After  they  have  been 
cut  off  two  or  three  times,  they  will  begin  to  stock  out  or 
thicken  out,  and  tl:.en  the  oftener  they  are  cut  the  better. 


WATER-MELON—POT    HERBS.          Jol 

When  raised  from  seeds  they  should  be  sown  on  the  mar- 
gin of  the  stream,  and  when  of  suitable  size  transplanted 
into  it,  where  it  is  an  inch  and  a  half  or  two  inches  deep. 
The  most  suitable  time  for  sowing  is  in  the  months  of  April, 
May  and  June. 

There  are  said  to  be  three  varieties  of  water-cress — 
namely:  the  Green-leaved,  which  is  considered  to  be  the 
easiest  to  cultivate;  the  Small  Broivn-leaved,  which  is 
thought  to  be  the  hardiest,  and  the  Large  Brown-leave^ 
which  is  said  to  be  the  best  for  deep  water. 


WATER-MELON. 

The  water-melon  succeeds  best  hi  light,  sandy  soils, 
heavy  soils  inducing  too  much  leaf  growth.  The  cultiva- 
tion is  the  same  as  that  of  the  musk-melon,  only  that  the 
hills  should  be  at  least  eight  ieet  apart  each  way,  and  only 
two  plants  in  each  hill.  The  seeds  should  not  be  sown  un- 
til May,  or  until  settled  warm  weather  has  set  in. 

There  are  numerous  sorts,  of  which  the  Mountain  Sweet 
and  the  Black  Spanish  are  the  best  for  table  use.  The 
citron  is  grown  exclusively  for  preserving  purposes. 


POT  HERBS. 

In  most  garden  books  directions  are  given  for  the  culti- 
vation of  aromatic,  pot,  sweet  and  medicinal  herbs.  We 
shall,  however,  confine  ourselves  to  pot  herbs,  or  those 
grown  exclusively  for  culinary  uses.  They  are  Siveet  Basil, 
Siveet  Fennel,  Sweet  Marjoram,  Spear  Mint,  Sage,  Summer 
Savory  and  Broad-leaved  Tfiyme. 

They  all  require  the  same  general  cultivation,  which  con- 
sists in  sowing  the  seeds,  during  April  or  May,  in  rich,  mel- 


132  POT    HERBS. 

low  soil,  in  drills  half  an  inch  deep  and  a  foot  apart.  As 
the  seeds  of  most  of  them  are  very  small,  the  bed  in  which 
they  are  sown  should  be  shaded  until  the  plants  come  up, 
and  kept  scrupulously  clean  of  weeds.  By  the  middle  or 
f  end  of  June  the  plants  will  be  fit  to  set  out  into  the  perma- 
nent beds,  in  rows  twelve  to  fifteen  inches  apart,  and  the 
plants  eight  to  ten  inches  apart  on  the  rows. 

All  herbs  should  be  gathered  just  before  they  begin  to 
flower,  as  then  they  have  then-  flavor  and  aroma  most  highly 
developed.  They  should  be  tied  in  small  bunches  and 
dried  in  the  shade  under  cover. 

In  designating  each  herb  above,  we  have  indicated  which 
is  the  best  variety  of  each. 


MONTHLY    REMINDERS.  133 


MONTHLY  REMIKDEES. 


JANUARY. — As  this  is  the  dead  of  winter,  not  much  can 
be  done  in  garden  operations,  except  in  preparation  for  the 
ensuing  season.  The  collection  of  manure  and  its  prepa- 
ration should  be  attended  to.  It  should  always  be  kept 
well  stacked  up,  and  not  allowed  to  be  carelessly  left  loose, 
and  so  to  become  frozen. 

Air  the  cold  frames  whenever  the  weather  permits.  If 
they  are  covered  with  snow,  it  should  be  removed,  unless 
the  soil  in  the  frame  is  frozen.  If  that  is  the  case,  they  may 
remain  covered  up  for  two  or  three  weeks  without  injury. 

Prepare  pea-brush,  etc.,  and  see  that  your  garden  tools 
are  in  good  order. 

FEBRUARY. — Attend  to  the  manure  piles,  turning  them 
over  once  or  twice  to  facilitate  their  decomposition. 

Make  up  hot-beds,  and  towards  the  end  of  the  month 
sow  in  them  cabbage,  egg  plant,  lettuce,  peppers  and 
tomato  seeds.  See  that  the  cold  frames  are  properly  at- 
tended to. 

Broad  beans  and  cabbage  seed  may  be  sown  in  cold 
frames — the  latter  when  a  hot-bed  is  not  to  be  had. 

Repair  sashes,  frames,  protection  boxes,  etc. 

MARCH.— Hot-beds  may  still  be  made,  and  seeds  of  ten- 
der vegetables  sown  in  them,  as  directed  for  last  month. 
Plant  wintered-over  lettuce  in  cold  frames,  when  it  is  de- 
sired to  have  them  sooner  than  they  can  be  had  in  the  open 
air.  Radishes,  also,  can  be  sown  in  cold  frames  for  the 
same  purpose. 


184  MONTHLY    SEMIXDEXS. 

If  the  ground  should  be  in  suitable  condition,  it  may  now 
be  manured  and  spaded.  Towards  the  end  of  the  month, 
in  warm,  dry  soils,  sow  cabbage,  carrot,  lettuce,  celery  for 
early  crops,  radishes,  turnips,  spinach,  broad  beans,  leeks, 
beets  and  peas  hi  a  sheltered  border.  Plant  horse-radish, 
rocambole,  onion  sets  and  chives. 

Make  plantations  of  asparagus,  rhubarb,  sea-kale  and 
artichokes.  Top  dress  old  beds  of  them  with  short  manure, 
forking  it  in  lightly  close  to  the  plants. 

Eoots  of  carrots,  beets,  parsnips,  onions  and  leeks,  with 
cabbages  and  celery  intended  for  seed,  may  be  planted  out 
towards  the  end  of  the  month  hi  dry,  warm  soils,  but  if  the 
land  is  heavy  or  wet,  defer  it  until  next  month.  The 
crowns  of  these  roots  should  be  protected  from  frost  by 
drawing  some  earth  over  them,  and  removing  it  in  April. 

As  the  sun  now  begins  to  have  some  power,  particular 
attention  must  be  paid  to  the  hot-beds  and  cold  frames  to 
prevent  the  plants  scorching.  Air  must  be  freely  given  if 
the  weather  is  spring-like,  and  some  shading  may  be  re- 
quired in  the  middle  of  the  day.  Water  them  if  it  is 
needed,  using  tepid  water. 

APRIL. — Plant  asparagus,  rhubarb,  sea-kale  and  arti- 
chokes, if  not  done  previously.  Divide  roots  of  tarragon, 
chives,  and  any  perennial  medicinal  or  sweet  herbs.  Plant 
out  cabbage,  cauliflower — protecting  it — broad  beans, 
horse-radish,  onion  sets,  lettuce,  Jerusalem  artichoke, 
potatoes,  and  start  sweet  potatoes  in  a  hot-bed.  Plant 
out  roots  of  esculents  intended  for  seed  raising.  Sow  beet, 
cabbage,  onions,  peas,  radishes,  spinach,  lettuce,  turnips, 
endive,  cardoon,  carrot,  celery,  cress,  leeks,  rhubarb,  arti- 
choke, asparagus,  mustard,  nasturtium,  salsify,  scorzouera, 
sea-kale,  skivret,  chervil,  patience,  kohl-rabi,  tomatoes, 
parsley  and  sweet  herbs.  Sow  cucumbers  and  melons  in 


MONTHLY    KEMISDERS.  135 

frames,  and  towards  the  end  of  the  month  bush  beaus  and 
Indian  corn  out-of-doors.  Hoe  crops  already  planted,  in 
order  to  destroy  the  weeds,  which  now  begin  to  germinate 
and  start  into  growth. 

See  that  the  hot-beds  and  cold  frames  are  well  aired, 
shaded  if  necessary,  watered  and  protected  at  night. 

MAY. — Thin  out  the  early  sown  crops  of  beets,  parsnips, 
carrots,  etc.  Transplant  cabbage,  lettuce,  egg  plants, 
tomatoes,  peppers,  etc.,  from  the  hot-beds,  frames  and 
warm  border  seed  beds.  The  sowing  of  any  seeds  that 
were  neglected  last  month  should  now  be  attended  to 
without  delay. 

Sow  borecole,  brussels  sprouts,  broccoli,  cauliflower, 
cabbage,  beans,  endive,  carrot,  cress,  cucumber,  melon, 
water-melon,  squash,  nasturtium,  martynia,  okra,  peas, 
sweet  corn,  pumpkin,  tomato,  radish  and  sweet  herbs. 
Plant  potatoes,  sweet  potatoes,  and  any  plants  still  remain- 
ing in  the  frames  or  hot-beds. 

Water  all  newly  transplanted  plants  at  the  time  of  trans- 
planting, and  two  or  three  times  afterwards  if  the  weather 
is  dry,  or  until  the  plants  are  established. 

Keep  the  hoe  going  in  order  to  destroy  the  weeds,  which 
will  now  begin  to  be  troublesome. 

JUNE.— Early  crops,  such  as  lettuce,  radishes,  spinach, 
etc.,  when  gathered,  may  be  succeeded  by  late  beets  and 
carrots.  Sow  them,  and  also  bush  beans,  cucumbers,  en- 
dive, sweet  corn,  pumpkin,  squash  and  okra.  Transplant 
cabbage  and  celery  for  summer  use;  also  leeks  and  car- 
doons ;  and  plant  potatoes  and  sweet  potatoes. 

Water  early  cauliflowers  as  they  begin  to  head. 

Hoe  and  thin  out  all  standing  crops. 

JULY. — Transplant  cabbage;  cardoons,  celery,  endive, 


J36  MONTHLY     REMINDERS. 

leeks,  peppers,  etc.,  for  autumn  crops.  Sow  bush  beans 
and  pole  beans,  cucumbers  for  pickling,  endive,  kohl-rabi, 
summer  radish,  ruta-baga,  and,  towards  the  end  of  the 
month,  turnips.  Potatoes  may  be  planted  early  in  the 
month. 
Sweet  herbs  should  be  cut  and  dried  this  month. 

AUGUST. — Celery  may  be  transplanted  up  to  the  15th. 
Sow  turnips,  fetticus,  bush  beans  for  pickling,  onion  seed 
to  stand  the  winter,  lettuce  for  autumn  use,  and  spinach 
for  an  early  crop.  Onions  will  be  ripe  this  month,  and 
should  be  pulled  and  dried. 

SEPTEMBER.— The  fall  crops  will  now  be  growing  rap- 
idly, and  will  require  hoeing  and  other  attention.  From 
the  10th  to  the  20th  sow  cabbage,  cauliflower  and  lettuce 
seed  for  young  plants  to  winter  over  in  cold  frames.  Shal- 
lots and  onions  should  be  planted,  and  spinach  and  German 
greens  sown  for  next  spring's  crop.  Earth  up  such  celery 
as  may  be  wanted  for  next  month. 

OCTOBER.— Earth  up  celery,  dig  up  potatoes  and  other 
roots,  as  they  mature,  and  store  them  away  for  use.  Col- 
lect squashes  and  pumpkins,  and  expose  them,  in  a  dry 
place,  to  a  good  airing,  previous  to  stowing  them  away. 
Blanch  endive,  hoe  and  weed  out  fetticus  and  spinach, 
plant  out  cabbage  and  lettuce  plants  in  cold  frames. 

NOVEMBER.— All  vegetables  not  secured  for  storing  away 
should  now  be  attended  to.  Spinach,  lettuce  out-of-doors, 
fetticus  and  outdoor  onions  should  be  protected  by  cov- 
erings of  straw,  salt  hay  or  cedar  brush.  Short  horse  dung 
is  best  for  the  onions.  Clear  up  and  dig  all  ground  as  the 
crops  are  taken  off,  as  it  prevents  delay  in  commencing  in 
the  spring. 
«  Put  the  sashes  on  such  of  the  cold  frames  as  have  been 


MONTHLY    EEMINDEBS.  137 

filled  with  cabbage  or  lettuce  plants,  giving  air  freely  by 
taking  the  sashes  entirely  oil'  on  sunny  or  mild  days. 

DECEMBER. — Attend  to  the  celery  that  has  been  stored 
away  in  trenches  for  winter  use ;  cover  it  little  by  little. 
Protect  spinach,  onions,  shallots,  kale,  etc.,  that  were  sown 
in  September,  and  cover  rhubarb,  sea-kale,  asparagus,  ar- 
tichokes, etc.,  with  five  or  six  inches'  thickness  of  long, 
coarse  manure. 

Store  away  pea-brush,  and  other  materials  of  the  kind, 
from  the  weather.  Commence  to  collect  manure  and  to 
prepare  compost  heaps.  Give  air  to  the  cold  frames  on 
sunny  days. 


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with  nearly  700  ensrravings,  designed  by  White,  Herrick,  Weir  and  Harvey, 
and  engraved  by  tf.  Orr.  This  is,  unquestionably,  the  most  attractive  and 
valuable  book  of  its  kind  ever  issued  in  this  or  any  other  country.  It  };aa 
"been  three  years  in  preparation,  and  embraces  all  the  sports  and  games  that 
tend  to  develop  the  physical  constitution,  improve  the  mind  and  heart,  and 
relieve  the  tedium  of  leisure  hours,  both  in  the  parlor  and  the  field.  The 
Engravings  are  all  in  the  finest  style  of  art,  and  embrace  eight  full-paere 
ornamental  titles,  illustrating  the  several  departments  of  the  work,  beauti- 
fully printed  on  tinted  paper.  The  bpok  is  issued  in  the  best  style  being 
printed  on  fine  sized  paper,  and  handsomely  bound.  Extra  cloth  pilt  sida 

and  back,  extra  gold.     Price *o  ea 

tetra  cloth,  full  gilt  edges,  back  and  side "      "400 


?opalar  Books  cent  Free  of  Postage  at  the  Prices  annexed. 
tf  cBride's  All  Kinds  of  Dialogues,    A  Collection  of  Original 

Humorous  and  Domestic  Dialogues,  introducing  Yankee,  French,  Irish, 
Dutch,  and  other  characters.    Excellently  adapted  for  Amateur  perform. 
ance.    By  H.  Elliott  McBride.     This  book  constitutes  a  second  series  oi 
McBride's  Comic  Dialogues,  and  affords  an  additional  variety  of  the  spirited 
dialogues  and  short  dramatic  scenes  contained  in  the  latteY  book.    They 
are  all  entirely  original,  and  develop  in  a  marked  degree  the  eccentricities 
and  peculiarities  of  the  various  ideal,  but  genuine,  characters  w!iich  are 
represented  in  them.     They  are  specially  adapted  for  School  Exhibitions 
and  all  other  celebrations  where  the  success  oi  the  entertainment  is  partly 
or  entirely  dependent  oa  the  efforts  of  the  young  folks. 
Illuminated  Pai>er  Cover,  Price  .......  .  .......  .  ...................  30  ctSC 

Bound  in  iioards  ..................................................  50  cte! 

Beeeher's  Recitations  and  Readings.    Humorous,  Serious, 

Dramatic  ;  including  Prose  and  Poetical  Selections  in  Dutch.  French.  Yan- 
kee, Irish,  Backwoods,  Negro  and  other  Dialects.    Edited  by  Alvnh  C. 
Beecher.    This  excellent  selection  has  been  compiled  to  meet  a  growir* 
demand  for  Public  Headings,  and  contains  a  number  of  the  favorite  pieces 
that  hare  been  rendered  with  telling  effect  by  the  most  popular  Public 
Headers  of  the  present  time.    It  includes,  also,  choice  selections  for  Kecita- 
tiou,  and  is,  therefore,  admirably  adapted  for  use  at  Evening  Entertain- 
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]6rao.  Illuminated  Paper  Cover,  Price  .............................  30  cts. 

Bound  in  Boards  .................................................  50  cts. 


Day's  Cards  for  Popping  the  Question.    An  Original 

for  Lovers  and  Sweethearts,  or  for  Merrv-Making  in  a  Party  of  Young 
People.  These  cards  are  not  only  delightfully  useful  to  diffident  lovers  — 
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resulting  in  earnest  love  passages  begun  in  sport—  preventing  shyness  and 
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sexes  so  necessary  in  all  social  meetings.  The"  set  consists  of  forty-two 
Cards,  viz.:  twenty  -one  questions,  which  are  mostly  earnest  declarations  of 
Jove,  and  twenty-one  answers,  equally  pithy  and  to  the  ]>oint.  As  soon  as 
these  Cards  become  known  we  feel  sure  that  they  will  have  an  endless  salo. 
Put  up  in  cases,  with  directions  for  playing.  Price  .................  30  Cts. 

Hed  Turner's  Circns  Joke  Book.    A  Collection  of  the  best 

Jokes,  Boa  Mots,  Repartees,  Gems  of  Wit  and  Fnnny  Savings  and  Doings 
of  the  celebrated  Equestrian  Clown  and  Ethiopian  Comedian,  Xed  Turner. 
Arranged  and  compiled  by  George  E.  Gowan.  This  book  forms  the  third 
of  the  series  by  this  versatile  popular  performer.  Price  .............  10  cts. 

Chips  from  Uncle  Sam's  Jack-Knife.    Illustrated  vith  over 


1(X)  Comical  Engravings,  and  comprising  a  collection  of  over  500  Laugha- 
ble Stories;  Funny  Adventures,  Comic  Poetry,  Queer  Conundrums,  Tcr-l 
rifio  PUHS.  "Witty  Sayings,  Sublime  Jokes  and  Sentimental  Sentences.  Thaf 


•whole  being  a  most  perfect  portfolio  for  those  who  love  to  laugh. 
.   Largeoctavo.    Price 25  cts. 

Clarence  Bolton.  A  !N"ew  York  story,  -with  city  life  in  all  its 
phases.  This  is  one  of  those  fascinating  tales  of  city  life'  that  gives  an  in- 
sight into  every  class  of  society.  Price 25  ct3. 

Grace  Weldpn;  or,  Tlie  Pretty  Milliner.     This  is  a  story  about 
the  Sewing  Girls  of  Boston.    Full  of  fun  amladventure.     ACT  person  wh« 
desires  to  read  a  lively  etorv  should  not  fail  to  get  this  work- 
Price,, ". 25  eta 


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Howard's  Recitations,  Comic,  Serious  and  Pathetic,     Being  a  col- 
lection of  fresh  Recitations  in  Prose  and  Poetry,  suitable  for  Anniversaries, 
Exhibitions,  Sociables  and  Evening  Parties.     180  pages,  IGmo. 
Paper  Cover 30cts.         Bound  in  Boards 50cts. 

Frost's  New  Book  of  Dialogues,  Being  an  entirely  new  and 
original  series  of  Humorous  Dialogues,  designed  for  performance  at  School 

Anniversaries  and  Exhibitions.     180  pages.      Paper  Covers 30ctS. 

Bound  in  Boards SOctS. 

Frost's  Dialogues  for  Young  Folks.    A  collection  of  Original, 

Moral  and  Humorous  Dialogues,  adapted  to  the  use  of  School  and  Church 

Exhibitions,  Family  Gatherings  and  Juvenile  Celebrations  on  ail  occasions. 
/  A  few  of  the  Dialogues  are  long  enough  to  form  a  sort  of  little  drama  that 
•  will  interest  more  advanced  scholars,  while  short  and  easy  ones  abound  for 

the  use  of  quite  young  children.      Paper  Cover 30cta. 

Bound  in  Boards,  with  Cloth  Backs,  Side  in  Colors 50cts. 

Frost's  Humorous  and  Exhibition  Dialogues.    This  is  a  col- 
lection of  Sprightly  Original  Dialogues,  in  Prose  and  Verse,  intended  to  be 
spoken  at  School  Exhibitions.      Some  of  the  pieces  are  for  boys,  some  for 
girls,  while  a  number  are  designed  to  be  used  by  both  sexes.    180  pages. 
PaperCovers SOctS.         Bound  in  Boards 50cts 

French  Self-Tauarht.  A.  new  system  on  the  most  simple  prin- 
ciples for  Universal  Self-Tuition,  with  English  Pronunciation  of  every  word. 
By  FRANZ  THIMM.  Price 25ctS* 

German  Self-Taught.  Uniform  with  «'  French  Self-Taught.'' 
By  FRANZ  THIMM.  Price 25cts 

Spanish  Self-Taught.  Uniform  \vitn  «  French  Self-Taught' 
By  FRANZ  THIMM.  Price 25cts. 

Italian  Self-Taught.  Unifom  with  "French  Self-Taught." 
By  FBANZ  THIMM.  Price 25cts. 

Franz  Thimm's  Modern  Languages.    Being  the  above  four 

works  bound  together  in  cloth,  16mo.      Price $1.50 

The  Banjo,  and  How  to  Play  It.  Containing,  in  addition  to 
the  Elementary  Study,  a  choice  collection  of  Polkas,  Waltzes,  Solos,  Schot- 
tlsches,  Songs,  Hornpipes,  Jigs,  Reels,  ice. ;  with  full  explanations  of  both 
tas  "Banjo"  and  "Guitar"  styles  of  execution,  and  designed  to  impart  a 
complete  knowledge  of  the  Art  of  Playing  the  Banjo  practically,  without  tha 
aid  of  a  Teacher.  By  FRANK  CONVERSE,  author  of  the  "Banjo  without  a 
Master."  KJrno.  Bound  in  Boards,  with  Cloth  Back SOcts. 

How  to  Speak  in  Public ;  or,  the  Art  of  Extempore  Orator?/.  A1 
valuable  manual  for  those  who  desire  to  become  ready,  off-hand  speaker*. 
IGmo.  Paper  Cover 25ci3. 

How  to  Shine  in  Society ;  or,  the  Science  of  Conversation.     Con- 
taining the  principles,  laws,  and  general  usages  of  polite  society.    Ifimo. 
Paper  Cover 25ctS. 

The  Athlete's  Guide.  A  hand-book  on  Walking,  Kunning,  and 
Bowing,  giving  full  instructions  for  Training,  and  a  Record  of  all  the  princi- 
pal events  since  the  year  1773,  with  sketches  of  the  lives  of  the  most  celebra- 
ted Athletes.  67  W.  E.  HARDING,  Ex-CbainpJ«n.  18mo,  cloth.  Price. 50ct> 


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's  Horseman's  Guide.  Comprising  the  Laws  on  War- 
ranty, and  the  Rules  in  purchasing  and  selling  Horses,  with  the  decisions  :nid 
reports  of  various  courts  in  Europe  and  the  United  States  ;  to  which  is  added 
a  detailed  account  of  what  constitute  soundness  and  imsoundness,  and  a 
precise  method,  simply  laid  down,  for  the  examination  of  horses,  showing 
their  age  to  thirty  years  old;  together  with  an  exposure  of  the  various  tricks 
and  impositions  practiced  by  low  horse-dealers  (jockeys)  on  inexperienced 
persons  ;  also  a  valuable  Table  of  each  and  every  bone  in  the  structure  of 
the  Horse.  The  entire  matter  carefully  compiled  from  Twenty  English,  Fivo 
American,  Six  French,  and  Nine  German  Veterinary  Authors,  with  the 
opinions  of  the  compiler  attached.  By  George  P.  Delisser,  V.  S.  &  L.  A., 
and  late  Examining  Veterinary  Surgeon  to  the  American  Society  for  the 

Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals.    Bound  in  boards,  cloth  back 75  cts. 

Bound  in  Cloth.    Price $1.00. 

Howard's  Book  of  Conundrums  and  Riddles.    Containing 

over  1,400  Witty  Conundrums,  Queer  Riddles,  Perplexing  Puzzles,  Inge- 
nious Enigmas,  Clever  Charades,  Curious  Catches,  and  Amusing  Sells,  origi- 
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•will  afford  the  material  for  a  never-ending  feast  of  fun  and  amusement. 
Any  person,  with  the  assistance  of  this  book,  may  take  the  lead  in  enter- 
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gether. It  is  an  invaluable  companion  for  a  Pic-nic  or  Summer  Excursion 
of  any  kind,  and  is  just  the  thing  to  make  a  fireside  circle  merry  on  a  long 
winter's  evening.  There  is  not  a  poor  riddle  in  the  book,  the  majority  being 

fresh  and  of  the  highest  order.     Paper  cover.    Price 30  cts. 

Bound  in  boards,  cloth  back.     Price 50  cts. 

Frost's  Book  of  Tableaux  and  Shadow  Pantomimes. 

Containing  a  choice  collection  of  Tableaux  or  living  Pictures,  embracing 
Moving  Tableaux,  Mother  Goose  Tableaux,  Fairy  Tale  Tableaux.  Charade 
and  Proverb  Tableaux;  together  with  directions*  for  arranging  the  stage, 
costuming  the  characters,  and  forming  appropriate  groups.  By  Miss  S. 
Annie  Frost.  To  which  is  added  a  num  ber  of  Shadow  Acts  and  Panto- 
mimes, with  complete  stage  instructions.  180  pages,  paper  cover.  ..30  cts. 
Bound  in  boards,  cloth  back 50  Cts. 

Laughing  Gas.  An  Encyclopedia  of  "Wit,  Wisdom,  and 
Wind.  By  Sam  Slick,  Jr.  Comically  illustrated  with  100  original  and 
laughable  Engravings,  and  nearly  500  side-extending  Jokes,  and  other 
things  to  get  fat  on ;  and  the  best  thing  of  it  is,  that  everything  about  the 
book  is  new  and  fresh — all  new — new  designs,  new  stories,  new  type — no 
comic  almanac  stuff.  Price Si5  cts. 

The  Egyptian  Dream  Book  and  Fortune-Teller.  Con- 
taining an  Alphabetical  List  of  Dreams,  and  numerous  methods  of  Telling 
Fortunes,  including  the  celebrated  Oraculum  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  Il- 
lustrated with  explanatory  diagrams.  Boards,  cloth  back.  Price.  ..40  Cts. 

Ned  Turner's  Black  Jokes.  A  collection  of  Funny  Stories, 
Jokes  and  Conundrums,  interspersed  with  Witty  Savings  and  Humorous 
Dialogues.  As  given  by  Ned  Turner,  the  Celebrated  Ethiopian  Delineator 
and  Equestrian  Clown.  Price 10  cts. 

Ned  Turner's  Clown  Joke  Book.     Containing  the  best  Jokes 

and  Gems  of  Wit,  composed  and  delivered  by  the  favorite  Equestrian  Clown 
and  Ethiopian  Comedian,  Ned  Turner.  18mo.  Price 10  cts. 

Sam  Slick  in  Search  of  a  Wife.    I2mo. 

Paper  cover.    Price 71  cts 


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The  Art  and  Etiquette  of  Making  Love.    A  Manual  of  Love, 

Courtship  and  Matrimony.  Containing  sensible  advice  in  relation  to  all  tho 
delicate  situations  and  perplexing  circumstances  incidental  to  the  tender 
passion  from  the  commencement  of  a  courtship  until  after  marriage  ;  to- 
gether with  the  duties  to  be  fulfilled  and  the  points  of  etiquette  to  be  ob- 
served by  bridesmaids  and  groomsmen,  and  all  other  details  of  the 
wedding  ceremony  ;  with  many  curious  things  concerning  matrimony  and 
its  consequences  ;  including  a  complete  system  of  love  telegraphy  and  hand- 
kerchief flirtations,  and  a  choice  collection  of  sensible  letters,  suitable  for  all 
the  contingencies  of  love  and  courtship  ;  also,  practical  remarks  on  bashful 
ness,  its  prevention  and  cure.  If  young  ladies  or  gentlemen  want  to  know: 

How  to  cure  bashfidness, 

How  to  commence  ct  courtship, 

How  to  carry  on  a  handkerchief  flirtation, 

How  to  please  a  sweetheart  or  lover, 

How  to  write  a  love-letter, 


How  to  "pop  the  question." 

How  to  act  before  and  after  a  proposal, 

How  to  accept  or  reject  a  proposal, 


How  to  break  off  an  engagement, 

How  to  act  after  an  engagement, 

How  to  act  as  bridesmaid  or  groomsman, 

Hoio  th&  etiquette  of  ft  wedding  and  the  after  reception  should  be  observed, 
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with  courtship  and  matrimony,  they  will  find  it  all  clearly  explained  in  this 
book.     Large  16mo.,  176  pages,  paper  cover.    Price  ................  30  cts. 

Bound  in  boards,  cloth  back.  Price  ................................  50  cts. 

The  Amateur  Trapper  and  Trap-Maker's  Guide.    A  com- 

plete and  carefully  prepared  treatise  on  the  art  of  Trapping,  Snaring  and 
Netting  :  containing  plain   directions  for  constmcting  the  most  approved 
Traps.  Snares.  Xets,  and  Dead-Falls;  the  best  methods  of  applying  tlicm  to 
their  various  purposes  ;  and  the  mo^t  successful  Baits  for  attracting  all  kinds 
of  Animals.  Birds,  &c.,  with  their  special  uses  in  each  cnse;  introducing,  also, 
practical  receipts  for  preparing  Skins  and  Furs  for  Market,  and  for  Tanning 
them  for  future  use  ;  with  concise  but  comprehensive  instructions  for  Pre- 
serving and  Stum'ng  specimens  of  Birds  and  Animals  in  the  most  natural  and 
durable  manner.     The  entire  work  is  based  on  the  experience  of  the  most 
successful  Trappers,  and  on  information  derived  from  other  authentic  pro- 
fessional   sources.     By    Stanley    Harding,     This    comprehensive   work   is 
embellished  with  fifty  well  drawn  and  engraved  illustrations;    and  these, 
together  with  the  clear  explanalions  which  accompany  them,  will  enable 
anybody  of  moderate  comprehension  to  make  and  set  any  of  the  traps  de- 
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Hunters  and  Trappers,  and  exposes  their  secret"  methods  of  attracting  and 
catching  animals,  birds,  &c.,  with  scarcely  a  possibility  of  failure.    Large 
16mo.,  paper  covers.     Price  ........................................  50  cts, 

Bound  in  boards,  cloth  back  ........................................  75  Cts. 

Very  Little  Dialogues  for  Very  Little  Folks.    Containing 

forty-seven  utnv  and  original  dialogues,  with  short  and  easy  parts,  almost 
entirely  in  words  of  one  syllable,  suited  to  the  capacity  and  comprehension 
of  very  young  children.    'This  work  has  been  issued  because  it  was  demanded 
by  thousands  of  parents  and  teachers  who  have  long  felt  the  need  of  such  a 
book.     There  are  plenty  of  little  boys  and  girls  who  want  to  "speak  a 
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dialogues,  made  up  of  short,  easy  parts,  on  subjects  th.-'t  their  little  minds 
can  thoroughly  understand,  so  that  the  sj>e:ikers  will  iind  no  difficulty  in 
committing  thVir  respective  pnrts  to  memory,  even  before  they  have  lonfncd 
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Howard's  Book  of  Drawing-Room  Theatricals,    A  collec, 

tion  of  twelve  short  and  amusing  plays  in  one  act  and  one  scene,  specially 
adapted  for  private  performances ;  with  practical  directions,  lor  theii 
preparation  and  management.  Some  of  the  plays  are  adapted  tor  per- 
formers of  one  sex  only.  This  book  is  just  what  is  wanted  by  those  who 
purpose  getting  up  an  entertainment  of  private  theatricals  :  it  contains  all 
the  necessary  instructions  for  insuring  complete  success.  180  pages. 

Paper  cjver.    Price , 30  cts« 

Bound  in  boards  with,  cloth  back 50  cls« 

Hudson's  Private  Theatricals  for  Home  Performance.    A 

collection  of  Humorous  Plays  suitable  for  an  Amateur  Entertainment,  with 
directions  how  to  carry  out  a  performance  successfully.  Some  of  the  plays 
in  this  collection  are  adapted  for  performance  by  males  only,  others  require 
only  females  for  the  cast,  and  all  of  them  are  in  one  scene  and  one  act,  and 
miy  be  represented  in.  any  moderate  sized  parlor,  without  much  prepara- 
tion of  costume  or  scenery.  180  pages. 

Piper  covers.    Price 30  cts- 

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The  Art  of  Dressing  Well,    By  Miss  S.  A.  Frost.    Tina 

book  is  designed  for  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  desire  to  make  a  favorable 
impression  upon  society,  and  is  intended  to  meet  the  requirements  of  any 
season,  place,  or  time  ;  to  offer  such  suggestions  as  will  bo  valuable  to  those 
just  entering  society  ;  to  brides,  for  whose  guidance  a  complete  trousseau 
i.j  described ;  to  persons  in  mourning  ;  indeed,  to  every  individual  who  pays 
attention  to  the  important  objects  of  economy,  style,  and  propriety  of  cos- 
tume. 188  pages. 

Paper  covers.    Price , . . . 30  cts 

Bound  in  boards,  cloth  back 50  cts- 

How  to  Anrnso  an  Evening  Party.    A  complete  collection 

of  Home  Recreations,  including  Round  Games,  Forfeits,  Parlor  Magic, 
Puzzles,  and  Comic  Diversions ;  together  with  a  great  variety  of  Scientific 
Recreations  and  Evening  Amusements.  Profusely  illustrated  with  nearly 
two  hundred  fine  woodcuts.  Here  is  family  amusement  tor  the  million. 
Hero  is  parlor  or  drawing-room  entertainment,  night  after  night,  for  a 
whole  winter.  A  young  man  with  this  volume  may  render  himself  the  brau 
ideal  of  a  delightful  companion  at  every  party.  He  may  take  the  lead  in 
amusing  the  company,  and  win  the  hearts  of  all  the  ladies,  and  charm  away 
t  he  obduracy  of  the  stoniest-hearted  parent,  by  his  powers  of  entertainment. 

Bound  in  ornamental  paper  cover.    Price 30  cts. 

Bound  in  boards,  with  cloth  back 50  cts- 

$Eartine's  Droll  Dialogues  and  Laughable  Recitations, 

By  Arthur  Mar  tine,  author  of  "  Martine's  Letter-Writer,"  etc.,  etc.  A 
collection  of  Humorous  Dialogues,  Comic  Recitations,  Brilliant  Burlesques, 
Spirited  Stump  Speeches,  and  Ludicrous  Farces,  adapted  lor  School  Cele- 
brations and  Home  Amusement.  183  pages. 

Paper  covers.     Price 30  ctS- 

Bound  in  boards,  with  cloth  back .50  ctCk 

Frost's  Humorous  and  Exhibition  Dialogues     This  is  a 

collection  of  sprightly  original  Dialogues,  in  Prose  and  Verse,  intended  to 
be  spoken  at  School  Exhibitions.  Some  of  the  pieces  are  for  boys,  some  fof 
girls,  while  a  number  are  designed  to  be  used  by  both  sexes.  The  Dialogues 
are  all  good,  and  will  roeoramend  themselves  to  those  who  desire  to  have 
Innocent  fun— the  prevailing  feature  at  a  school  celebration.  180  pages. 
Paper  cover.  Price 30  eta- 
Bound  in  boards -50  cts 


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Lester's  " Look  to  the  East."— (Webb  Work.)     A  Ritual 

of  the  First  Three  Degrees  of  Masonry.  Containing  the  complete  work  of 
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Book  Of  Household  Pets,  Containing  valuable  instructions 
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Mocking  Bird,  Brown  Thrush,  or  Thrasher,  and  other  birds,  and  the  rearing 
and  management  of  all  kinds  of  Pigeons  and  Fancy  Poultry,  Kabbits,  Squir- 
rels, Guinea  Pig-s,  White  Mice  and  Dogs ;  together  with  a  Comprehensive 
Treatise  on  the  P-riiiciple  and  Management  of  the  Salt  and  Fresh  Water 
Aquarium.  Illustrated  with  123  fine  wood-cuts.  In  boards.  Price. 50  CtS. 
Bound  in  cloth,  gilt  side 75  CtS. 

Athletic  Sports  for  Boys.  A  Repository  of  Graceful  Re- 
creations for  Youth,  containing  clear  and  complete  instructions  in  Gymnas- 
tics, Limb  Exercises.  Jumping,  Pole  Leaping,  Dumb  Bells,  Indian  Clubs, 
Parallel  Bars,  the  Horizontal  Bar,  the  Trapeze,  the  Suspended  Ropes,  Skat- 
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•wood-cuts  and  diagrams.  Bound  in  boards,  with  cloth  back.  Price. 75  cts. 
Bound  in  cloth,  gilt  side ci  00 

The  Bar-Tender's  Guide ;  or,  How  to  Mix  all  Kinds  of 

Fancy  Drinks.  Containing  cloar  and  reliable  directions  for  mixing  all  the 
beverages  used  in  the  United  States.  Embracing  Punches,  Juleps,  Cob- 
blers, Cocktails,  etc.,  etc.,  in  endless  variety.  By  Jerry  Thomas.  With 
plain  directions  for  making  Syrups,  Bitters,  Cordials  and  Liqueurs,  with  the 
various  harmless  flavoring  and  coloring  substances  used  in  their  preparation, 
nnd  complete  instructions  for  Distilling,  Filtering  and  Clarifying  them. 

Illuminated  paper  cover 50  cts. 

Bound  in  full  cloth 75  cts. 

How  to  Learn  the  Sense  of  3,000  French  Words  in  One 

Hour.  This  ingenious  little  book  actually  accomplishes  all  that  its  title 
claims.  It  is  a  fact  that  there  are  at  least  three  thousand  words  in  the 
F'rench  language,  forming  a  large  proportion  of  those  used  in  ordinary  con- 
versation, which  are  spelled  exactly  the  same  as  in  English,  or  become  tho 
same  by  very  slight  and  easily  understood  changes  in  their  termination. 

Kimo,  illuminated  paper  cover 25  cts. 

Bound  in  full  cloth 50  CtS. 

Barton's  Gomic  Recitations  and  Humorous  Dialogues. 

Containing  a  variety  of  Comic  Recitations  in  Prose  and  Poetry,  Amusing 
Dialogues,  Burlesque  Scenes,  Eccentric  Orations  and  Stnmp  Speeches,  Hu- 
morous Interludes  and  Laughable  Farces.  Designed  for  School  Commence- 
ments and  Amateur  Theatricals.  Edited  by  Jerome  Barton.  This  is  tho 
best  collection  of  Humorous  pieces,  especially  adapted  to  the  parlor  stage, 

that  has  ever  been  published.     Illuminated  paper  cover.    Price 30  cts. 

Bound  in  boards,  with  cloth  back 50  cts. 

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other  Recreations.  Illustrated  with  over  Three  Hundred  Engravings.  A 
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known,  and  gives,  besides,  a  great  many  new  ones — the  whole  being  de- 
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bound  in  oloth,  with  gilt  side  and  back.  Price §1  5(j 

Lander's  Expose  of  Odd-Fellowship.     Containing  all  tho 

Lectures  complete,  with  regulations  for  Opening,  Conducting  and  Closing  a 
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Degree  ;  5th  or  Seailet  Degree.  Pa'per  cover. . .' 25  eta. 


14  DAY  USE 

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